A stable night of sleep is particularly important for both adults and children. Do you still remember Gu Ailing? This genius ski girl claimed that her "secret weapon" to win the championship was ten hours of sleep; her mother Gu Yan also admitted in an interview that her educatio

A stable night of sleep is particularly important for both adults and children.

Do you still remember Gu Ailing ?

This genius ski girl claimed that her winning "secret weapon" is a ten-hour sleep; her mother Gu Yan also admitted in an interview that her education for Gu Ailing is - first, sleep more; second, learn more; third, play more.

The importance of good sleep in childhood has been widely studied and verified.

On the contrary, Poor sleep quality and sleep habits are harmful to neurobehavioral function, emotional response and regulation, and may also bring risks to future mental state development.

So, what should parents do to help their children fall asleep more scientifically?

Recently published in Frontiers of Psychology A study analyzed the methods by which parents help young children sleep in fourteen cultures.

The results show that the way and skills of parents helping their children fall asleep are closely related to the development of their children's temperament, and will affect the quality of their children's sleep and behavioral development.

The international research team of this project surveyed 841 parents from 14 countries (Belgium , Brazil, Chile , China, Finland , Italy, Mexico, Holland , Romania , Russia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey and the United States).

Their children are all 17 to 40 months old, and 52% of them are boys.

Each parent completed an early childhood behavior questionnaire and a daily activity questionnaire. The researchers used this to understand the children's temperament and the skills and strategies used by parents for their children in terms of sleep support.

What is childish temperament?

Children's temperament (temperament) refers to the way children regulate their own behavior and deal with emotions.

Different child temperaments will have an impact on children's mental and physical health and may cause future mental disorders risks.

Researchers use three main factors to define temperament:

• Extraversion (SUR) , reflecting positive emotions, such as smiling, closeness, activeness, and enthusiasm.
• Negative emotions (NE), reflecting the tendency to feel pain in situations of fear, anger, sadness and discomfort.
• Control power (EC) , reflecting attention-based regulation skills and the ability to enjoy calm activities.

Each factor can independently predict behavior, achievement, and interpersonal outcomes, including behavioral problems, social skills, and academic performance.

After data processing and using linear multi-level regression model, the researchers found that the sleep support method adopted by is related to the temperament characteristics of children.

Moreover, there are greater differences between cultures, and sleep support methods may be an independent factor affecting the differences in children's temperament in different cultures.

Sleep support strategies are divided into two types: passive and active . passive ways to help children fall asleep include hugging, singing, reading, etc., while active ways to help children fall asleep include walking, playing, etc.

study found that in countries where relies more on passive strategies, young children have higher social skills scores (higher extraversion score).

On the other hand, The temperament of children who are picky or difficult to get along with (higher negative emotions score) is significantly related to the active sleep support method.

Overall, passive sleep support skills are related to weaker negative emotions and stronger positive emotions at the cultural level, and are related to higher control at the individual level; active sleep support skills are only related to higher negative emotions at the individual level.

Among the fourteen countries covered by the study, the cultures of the United States, Finland and the Netherlands most recognize the way to passively help children fall asleep. Data shows that Chinese countries rarely adopt passive sleep support strategies.

This research results show the importance of using reasonable methods to help children fall asleep. Parents can pay more attention to and learn skills to support their children's sleep, thereby supporting the development of their children's temperament.

Reference:

https://neurosciencenews.com/sleep-child-behavior-21948/