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Sleep arrangements and night waking at 6 and 12 months in relation to infants' stress‐induced cortisol responses
Author(s) -
LucasThompson Rachel,
Goldberg Wendy A.,
Germo Gary R.,
Keller Meret A.,
Davis Elysia P.,
Sandman Curt A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
infant and child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1522-7219
pISSN - 1522-7227
DOI - 10.1002/icd.636
Subject(s) - psychology , sleep (system call) , developmental psychology , nocturnal , fight or flight response , hydrocortisone , longitudinal study , circadian rhythm , audiology , medicine , chemistry , pathology , computer science , gene , operating system , biochemistry , neuroscience
Abstract The objective of this short‐term longitudinal study was to examine the concurrent and prospective associations of infants' sleep arrangements and night waking with cortisol responses to an inoculation at 6 and 12 months, controlling for several key covariates. To our knowledge, this was the first study to concurrently and prospectively link proximity in sleep arrangements and night waking to physiological stress reactivity. A sample of 92 mother–infant dyads participated in the study when the infants were 6 and 12 months of age, although sample sizes were reduced for some analyses. Both proximal cosleeping arrangements and more frequent night wakings' were associated concurrently with an increased cortisol response to inoculations at both ages. Night waking at 6 months also was associated with a slightly increased cortisol response to inoculation at 12 months. Results aimed at exploring the direction of influence suggested that cosleeping and night waking may influence infant stress physiology rather than the reverse. Adaptive and maladaptive implications of infants' nocturnal experiences and greater stress‐induced cortisol responses are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.