TY - JOUR
T1 - Adding fuel to the fire
T2 - How childhood and adolescent histories of interparental conflict amplify sleep problems during the transition to emerging adulthood
AU - Thompson, Morgan J.
AU - Ehrhardt, Alexandra D.
AU - Kelly, Ryan J.
AU - El-Sheikh, Mona
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© the Society for Research in Child Development 2026. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected]
PY - 2026/7
Y1 - 2026/7
N2 - The study examined whether change in childhood interparental conflict (IPC) moderated links between change in adolescent IPC and sleep from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants (N = 351, 52% female, 67% European American, 32% African American, 1% biracial) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in the Southeastern United States completed five waves of data collection (Mages = 8, 10, 15, 17, 22) between 2005 and 2022. Actigraphs measured sleep duration and quality. Participants reported on parents’ IPC. Latent change score models examined change-on-change in IPC and sleep. Among those with histories of increasing childhood IPC, increases in adolescent IPC predicted increases in sleep activity (β =.24) and long-wake episodes (β =.22) and decreases in sleep efficiency (β = −.20) from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Findings are consistent with stress sensitization.
AB - The study examined whether change in childhood interparental conflict (IPC) moderated links between change in adolescent IPC and sleep from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants (N = 351, 52% female, 67% European American, 32% African American, 1% biracial) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in the Southeastern United States completed five waves of data collection (Mages = 8, 10, 15, 17, 22) between 2005 and 2022. Actigraphs measured sleep duration and quality. Participants reported on parents’ IPC. Latent change score models examined change-on-change in IPC and sleep. Among those with histories of increasing childhood IPC, increases in adolescent IPC predicted increases in sleep activity (β =.24) and long-wake episodes (β =.22) and decreases in sleep efficiency (β = −.20) from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Findings are consistent with stress sensitization.
KW - actigraphy
KW - interparental conflict
KW - sleep
KW - stress sensitization
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043855676
U2 - 10.1093/chidev/aacag073
DO - 10.1093/chidev/aacag073
M3 - Article
C2 - 41983966
AN - SCOPUS:105043855676
SN - 0009-3920
VL - 97
SP - 1203
EP - 1216
JO - Child Development
JF - Child Development
IS - 4
ER -