0117 Association between Mother-Child Sleep-Wake Rhythm Synchrony and Maternal Emotional Health

Abstract Introduction Synchrony between mother and infant sleep-wake rhythms is positively associated with attachment and maternal mental health. Chronotype is a measure of one’s circadian rhythm which influences sleep timing and other physiological processes. Whether synchrony of mother-child chronotype is similarly associated with maternal mental health into early childhood, when children’s behavior is less dependent on the mother, is unknown. Thus, we examined the relation between mother-child chronotype synchrony and mother’s emotional health. Methods 106 healthy preschool-aged children (50.78±9.54 months) and mothers (34±8.7 years) were included in this secondary analysis. Wrist-worn actigraphy (range 3-16 days) was used to assess sleep duration and sleep midpoint. The Munich Chronotype Questionnaire was used to calculate midpoint of overnight sleep on free days (MSFsc) which was corrected for sleep debt on workdays. Dyad synchrony was calculated as a phase angle (phase difference) between mothers’ MSFsc and children’s MSFsc. Maternal emotional health was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD). Results Linear regression (adjusted for the child’s age, sex, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test score, and maternal socioeconomic status, employment status, and shiftwork) indicated no significant association between dyad synchrony and mothers’ emotional health (p=0.33). However, a median split on mothers’ emotional health scores (CESD) supports that children’s MSFsc is later (i.e. later chronotype) in mothers with more depression symptoms (p<.01). Conclusion The present results provide tentative support for the hypothesis that earlier child chronotype is associated with better maternal mental health even into early childhood. Future research needs to be done to elucidate whether mothers whose sleep is not aligned with their child’s primary sleep bout may experience less attachment and more negative interactions with their child leading to worse mental health. Further analyses will consider additional measures of synchrony that incorporate more than just the alignment of sleep midpoint. These findings may point to a possible source of poor maternal mental health which can be targeted in future research. Support (if any) NIH R01 HL111695