Effects of paternal involvement in nighttime childcare on child and maternal sleep: exploring the roles of relationship satisfaction and maternal competence about child sleep.

Study Objectives: Supportive coparenting between couples has been shown to have positive effects on the dyadic relationship, child development, and parental and child sleep. This study aimed to investigate the association between paternal involvement in nighttime childcare and child and maternal sleep, while exploring relationship satisfaction and maternal competence about child sleep as mediators.

Methods: The sample consisted of 290 mothers (mean age ± standard deviation = 34.8 ± 4.1) with children (50.7% male) aged 6-36 (mean ± standard deviation = 22.7 ± 8.6) months. Participants reported their paternal involvement in nighttime childcare and completed the following questionnaires: Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire-Revised, Dyadic Adjustment Scale-4 items, and the Insomnia Severity Index. Path analysis was conducted to examine the impact of paternal involvement on child and maternal sleep through relationship satisfaction and maternal competence.

Results: Among the sample, 74.8% responded that paternal participation in nighttime childcare was less than 25%. Path analysis showed that paternal involvement had a significant direct effect on maternal insomnia (β = -.15, < .05) but not on child sleep. Direct pathways from paternal involvement to relationship satisfaction (β = .17), from relationship satisfaction to maternal competence (β = .19), from maternal competence to child's sleep (β = -.57), and from child sleep to maternal insomnia (β = .48) were significant ( < .01). Relationship satisfaction mediated the associations between paternal involvement and child (β = -.08, < .05) and maternal (β = -.04, < .05) sleep.

Conclusions: Paternal nighttime childcare involvement was low in South Korea. The results highlight the importance of considering paternal supportive participation and relationship satisfaction in future research on child and maternal sleep.

Citation: Song J, Jang E, Astbury L, Bei B, Suh S. Effects of paternal involvement in nighttime childcare on child and maternal sleep: exploring the roles of relationship satisfaction and maternal competence about child sleep. . 2024;20(8):1241-1250.