Temperament and sleep behaviors in infants and toddlers living in low-income homes

Temperament is a dynamic trait that can be shaped by maturity and environmental experiences. In this study, we sought to determine whether and the extent to which temperament was predicted by sleeping behaviors in an understudied sample of primarily Black and White infants and toddlers living in low-income homes (N = 150). Sleeping behaviors were assessed at 15-19 months of age with caregiver report of the Tayside Children's Sleep Questionnaire. Temperament was examined as effortful control, negativity, and surgency with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form at 9-12 months of age and with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire Short Form at 20-24 months of age. Covariates were maternal education, household income, and child sex and race. Continuous variables were standardized, then missing data from independent variables were multiply imputed in 20 datasets. Regression analyses showed that about 1 SD improvement in toddler sleep behaviors significantly predicted about 1/5 SD better toddler effortful control. However, sleep behaviors did not significantly predict toddler surgency or negative affect. This study shows that for a sample of infants and toddlers in low-income homes, how a child learns to regulate sleeping behaviors may influence the development of overall effortful control about six months later.