Culture and the organization of infant sleep: A study in the Netherlands and the U.S.A. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA;2. Netherlands Initiative for Education Research, The Hague, Netherlands;3. Creative Research Solutions, Suwanee, GA, USA;4. Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA, USA;1. Max Planck Research Group Naturalistic Social Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195, Berlin, Germany;2. Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience, Università Campus Bio-Medico, Via Alvaro de Portillo 5, 00128, Rome, Italy;1. Department of Primary Education, University of Potsdam, Germany;2. Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Germany;3. Department of Inclusive Education, University of Potsdam, Germany;4. Department of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Germany;1. School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, New Zealand;2. Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, New Zealand;1. Division of Developmental Neuroscience, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan;2. Department of Medical Innovation, Osaka University Hospital, Osaka, Japan;3. Department of Medical Physics and Engineering, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan;4. Department of Children and Women’s Health, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan;1. Early Cognitive Development Centre, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia;2. ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia;3. Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | This study investigates differences in the amount and structure of infant sleep in two cultural places with previously documented, divergent parental beliefs and practices. Eight-month-old infants (n = 24 per site) were recruited from towns in the Netherlands and the eastern U.S.A. To evaluate sleep, infants’ physical activity was recorded at home for 24 h using a miniature actigraph, while parents kept a diary of infant activities. Measures derived from actigraphy include total sleep, longest sleep episode, longest wake episode, number of sleep episodes, and percent of sleep during nighttime, as well as time in the stages of Quiet and Active Sleep. Measures based on the parental diaries include most of these aspects as well, except those related to sleep stages. Results based on the more precise actigraphy method indicate that (1) the Dutch infants averaged 13.65 h of sleep per 24 h, 1.67 h more than the U.S. infants; this difference was mostly due to daytime sleep; (2) The Dutch infants’ longest wake episode averaged less than that of the U.S. infants, while their longest sleep episode appeared slightly longer. (3) The Dutch infants, compared to the U.S. sample, spent more time in the Quiet, rather than the Active phase of sleep; (4) They began their Quiet sleep earlier in the evening than did their U.S. counterparts. Measures derived from parental diaries are largely in agreement with the actigraph findings. These results are consistent with reported and observed practices and beliefs in the two communities. The pattern of differences – less apparent maturity among the Dutch in the amount of sleep, but greater apparent maturity in the structure of sleep -- illustrates that behavioral and neurological maturity can be assessed only in the context of the developing child’s adaptation to the specific demands and affordances of the culturally structured developmental niche. |
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| Keywords: | Sleep Infancy Culture Maturation Developmental niche |
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