Sleep, Coparenting, and Parenting Among Mothers and Fathers Prior to Kindergarten Transition

The identification of family-level and modifiable factors that are influential determinants of parenting is of critical importance. The present study of mothers and fathers investigated within- and across-parent linkages between sleep duration and variability, the coparenting relationship, and parenting quality, as well as the moderating effect of coparenting in a sample of families with children making the transition to kindergarten using a family systems perspective. Mothers and fathers from 225 families participated in the late summer before their child started kindergarten. Parents wore actigraphs for a week to derive average and variability in sleep duration and reported their positive and negative perceptions of coparenting. Observations of parenting at child bedtime were used to assess mothers’ and fathers’ emotional availability (EA) with their children. Direct and crossover effects of sleep and coparenting, as well as their interaction effects on parenting, were examined using actor–partner interdependence models. Results indicated direct effects where greater sleep variability (but not sleep duration) and coparenting predicted lower EA, most robustly for mothers. Crossover effects were most prominent for fathers where mothers’ negative coparenting and sleep predicted fathers’ EA. Negative coparenting also moderated associations between sleep and parenting only for fathers. Sleep duration did not directly predict parenting for mothers or fathers, but mothers’ sleep duration interacted with mothers’ negative coparenting perceptions to predict fathers’ EA, supporting a crossover effect. Findings highlight the need to promote parent sleep and the coparenting relationship among interventions targeting parenting.