Contextual and Parenting Factors Contribute to Shorter Sleep Among Hispanic/Latinx Compared to Non-Hispanic White Infants

Abstract

Background: Sleep is an important aspect of child development and health. Disparities in childhood sleep have been observed as early as infancy, but little is known about the factors contributing to them.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine whether intrinsic, contextual, and parenting factors contribute to differences in sleep duration between Hispanic/Latinx and non-Hispanic white infants at 6 months of age.

Methods: We analyzed data of 119 Hispanic/Latinx and 146 non-Hispanic white infants in Rise & SHINE, a prospective birth cohort study of mother-infant dyads. Mothers reported their infant's sleep patterns using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire at 6 months. Mothers also completed surveys measuring intrinsic (sex, gestational length, and birth weight), contextual (cultural, environmental, and familial), and parenting (behaviors and practices) factors. We used multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses to examine the contributing effects of these clusters of variables on the association between racial/ethnic background and infant sleep duration.

Results: Hispanic/Latinx infants slept 38 min less than white infants at 6 months (β: -0.63 [95% confidence interval: -1.07, -0.19]) and were nearly three times more likely to not meet the minimum sleep recommendation. The differences persisted after adjustment for intrinsic factors but were attenuated after additional adjustment for contextual and parenting factors, especially having a foreign-born mother and later bedtime.

Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that differences in sleep duration among Hispanic/Latinx infants compared to their white counterparts are present as early as 6 months of age and that context and parenting matter.

Keywords: Bedtime; Disparity; Ethnicity; Infant; Parenting; Sleep.