Past studies have shown that early childhood temperament is known to be a precursor to anxiety. Sleep plays an important role in emotional regulation and brain development in infants. This study will look into whether infant temperament is associated with differences in sleep staging in naps across infancy. We will look at associations between infants’ temperament and socio-emotional development (based on survey data) and their sleep architecture. We hypothesize that infants with better social and emotional functioning, evidenced by more typical BITSEA and IBQ scores, will experience more SWS during their naps. We also hypothesize that greater REM activity will be associated with more negative temperament traits due to emotionally salient information. 

Eighty-eight infants aged 9–15 months have participated thus far in a longitudinal study across three waves at 9, 12, and 15 months. At each wave, infants completed two testing sessions, a nap and a wake condition, scheduled at least one week apart and counterbalanced. Daytime sleep data was recorded using a 32-channel EEG cap. Parents completed three questionnaires: the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (activity level, soothability, fear, distress to limitations, smiling and laughter, duration of orienting), the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (internalizing and externalizing), and the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (parental childhood unpredictability).

Using a longitudinal design with both sleep measures and questionnaires collected at each wave, this work will contribute to a better understanding of early relationships between sleep and emotional and temperamental development. Data collection is ongoing, and preliminary results will be analyzed soon.