Environmental Stability and Sleep Efficiency in Early Development
Presenter: Crystal Santana
Faculty Sponsor: Rebecca Spencer
School: UMass Amherst
Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
Session: Poster Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM, 163, C25
ABSTRACT
Sleep is critical in early brain development, supporting neural growth, reorganization, and memory consolidation during infancy. Infants spend a substantial portion of sleep time in slow-wave sleep (SWS) compared to adults, reflecting higher demand for neural organization. As sleep structure refines in later infancy, this developmental period is effective to examine environmental influences on sleep organization. This study will observe sleep efficiency as an index of overall sleep quality. Along with developmental maturation, another important aspect to sleep development is the environmental contexts in which these infants are experiencing. Caregiver routines and household consistency may influence the transitions that are needed to maintain sleep efficiency. Environmental stability and predictability are defined as consistent caregiving routines, organized household conditions, and minimal social and electronic disruptions assessed through caregiver report-surveys and in-person testing days. These external factors may support more restful and productive sleep that a less predictable environment would, which may lead to fragmented sleep. By examining sleep quality as it relates to environmental predictability, this research aims to clarify how daily environmental factors contribute to early sleep organization during a critical period of brain development. Using a longitudinal design across three waves of 9, 12, and 15 months of age, this study will assess whether variations in environmental stability are associated with differences in infant sleep efficiency. It is hypothesized that infants experiencing more stable and predictable environments will demonstrate higher sleep efficiency, whereas infants that are exposed to greater environmental disruptions will exhibit lower sleep efficiency and more fragmented sleep patterns.