Associations between bed-sharing in infancy and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms
Bilgin, Ayten Morales-Muñoz, Isabel Winsper, Catherine Wolke, Dieter
Bilgin, Ayten
Morales-Muñoz, Isabel
Winsper, Catherine
Wolke, Dieter
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Affiliation
University of Essex; University of Birmingham; Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust; University of Warwick
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Publication date
2024-07-21
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Abstract
Bed-sharing is a controversial but common parenting practice with claimed benefits for emotional and behavioral development. Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N = 16,599), this prospective study investigated whether bed-sharing at 9 months is associated with childhood internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories. Children were grouped by their patterns of co-developing internalizing and externalizing symptoms from 3 to 11 years of age using a parallel process latent class growth analysis. There were no associations between bed-sharing at 9 months of age and internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories across childhood. This finding suggests that bed-sharing at 9 months has no positive or negative influence on the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms across childhood. Clinicians should inform parents that bed-sharing during the second half of the first year is unlikely to have an impact on the later emotional and behavioral development of the children.
Citation
Bilgin A, Morales-Muñoz I, Winsper C, Wolke D. Associations between bed-sharing in infancy and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Attach Hum Dev. 2024 Jul 21:1-20. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2024.2380427. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39033345.
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Article