Parent psychopathology as a mediator of the relationship between anxiety and sleep problems in children.

Introduction: Sleep problems exert a negative impact on youths and their families. Parent and child mental health represent 2 posited, yet understudied, risk factors for sleep problems in youths. As such, this study sought to examine the role that parental psychopathology may play in mediating the relationship between child anxiety and sleep problems utilizing Internet sampling procedures.

Method: Parents (n = 83; 90.4% female) answered questions about their own mental health, and about their child's (n = 83; 77.1% female) anxiety and sleep.

Results: Analyses found that parent anxiety and stress mediated the relationship between child anxiety and sleep problems.

Discussion: This is the first study to examine the joint roles of parent psychopathology and child anxiety in explaining sleep problems in youths. Limitations notwithstanding, these results suggest that both parent- and child-level variables are important for developing a more comprehensive understanding of child sleep problems. Future areas of research are discussed.