A leading researcher on temperament in infants and young children once said in despair, “When I raised my first child, I believed behavioral theories claiming that what I do as a parent molds my child’s character. With my second child, I was already a geneticist and believed that a child is born with characteristics that are passed on through heredity and that environmental influence is minimal. I barely knew my third child at all...”
This analysis was, of course,
exaggerated, but it demonstrates the ongoing quest of parents and scientists to
answer this question: what determines the personality and personal
characteristics of the child?
The question of heredity (“She
got her shyness from her dad’s family”) versus environment (“If his mother were
more strict with him, he would be calmer”) underlies parents’ attempts to understand
the range of influence they have in molding their child.
Up-to-date research points to
a complex picture: the influence of heredity and environment on the child. Much
evidence suggests that the baby is born with genetic baggage that not only
determines how he looks, the color of his eyes, and his chances of suffering
from various diseases but also significantly influences the character traits
that he or she will develop.
Physical activity level,
shyness or sociability, openness to new situations, and anxiety are among the
traits that are related to the genetic predisposition with which babies enter
the world. Many parents discover that their child has traits that are
undesirable to them—especially if they remind them of qualities they dislike
about their parents, their spouses, or themselves.
Parents frequently try to
fight these traits, but they often discover that it is a losing battle.
It seems that the most
important variable that influences the quality of the relationship between
parents and children is the “goodness of fit” between the child’s traits and
the parents’ expectations.
A very active child, for example,
may be adored by a father who appreciates and identifies with this trait but
merely tolerated by a father who expects a calmer child.
On the other hand, a quiet,
calm child may be considered depressive or lifeless by the first father, while
the second father sees her as perfect.
Incompatibility between
parental expectations and the child’s traits may lead to frustration and stress
in the relationship, particularly if the parents try to “correct” the child to
conform to their expectations.
® The Relationship Between Temperament And Sleep
Every parent is familiar with
the situation in which her child demonstrates by his behavior that he “is up
past his bedtime.”
When scientists asked parents
to describe this situation, some said that the child calms down, seems sleepy,
falls asleep on his own, or asks directly or indirectly to go to bed. Other
parents said that their child in this situation “climbs the walls,” “is a
crybaby,” “is nervous and unhappy with everything,” “doesn’t respond to what
he’s told,” or “simply does annoying things.”
Clearly, young children react
to tiredness in significantly different ways.
A state of fatigue is not
necessarily expressed by decreased activity and obvious sleepiness.
Sometimes the symptoms can be
just the opposite.
Some of the typical “negative”
behaviors of the tired child are compatible with general patterns that
characterize behavior disorders.
Much evidence points to a
strong correlation between sleep and the development of the child’s personality
traits.
Studies have shown that a baby
who suffers from sleep disorders (difficulty falling asleep, for example, or
many awakenings during the night) tends to be “more difficult” in other behavioral
domains.
In a study conducted in
several sleep laboratories, scientists compared a group of nine- to
twenty-four-month-old babies whose parents had come for a consultation about
their children’s sleep problems with a control group of babies without sleep
disorder – not surprisingly, what they found is significant differences in the traits
that the mothers attributed to babies.
The mothers completed a temperament
questionnaire, which is a sort of “personality” test for young children.
The mothers rated their degree
of agreement with such sentences as “The child agrees to be dressed and
undressed without protesting,” “The child responds strongly (screams, yells)
when frustrated,” and “The child sits quietly when waiting to eat.”
In general, the mothers of
babies with sleep problems described them as more demanding, complaining, annoying,
negatively sensitive to different stimuli, and difficult to adapt to different
situations, as compared with babies without sleep problems.
One of the traits measured in
the temperament questionnaire is the degree of sensitivity or responsivity of
the baby to different sensory stimuli (noise, temperature, taste, smell).
Some babies are very sensitive
to any kind of sensory stimulus, and others are sensitive only to a specific
type of sensation—for example, those who recoil from skin contact.
A wide range of babies do not
respond in an outstanding way to sensory stimuli.
One of the hypotheses that the
researcher William Carey examined in 1974 was that babies who suffer from
hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli would tend to develop sleep difficulties.
Carey’s findings supported the
hypothesis, and he claimed that the heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli
is hereditary.
In order to fall asleep, the
baby has to disassociate himself from the external environment and stop responding
to people, noise, light, and temperature, and to disassociate from internal
signals as well, such as pain, discomfort, and hunger. This ability to
disassociate is most critical for maintaining uninterrupted sleep and for preventing
awakenings in response to various stimuli.
A baby who is sensitive from
birth to any internal or external stimulus will have trouble disassociating
from environmental stimuli, which will interfere with his ability to relax and
fall asleep easily and will cause him to awaken easily and frequently over the
course of the night.
This correlation between sleep
and behavior continues throughout later childhood.
Studies that examined school-aged
children found a correlation between sleep disorders and problems with behavior
and more general adaptation.
Actually, sleep disorders
serve as a sensitive barometer of general adaptation problems among children and
adults.
Sleep disorders are a
prominent sign of stress and anxiety, depression, and adaptation problems.
Sleep problems are so prevalent in some behavior or emotional disorders that
they have been included in diagnostic criteria.
One factor that strengthens a
diagnosis of anxiety disorders in a child, for example, is the presence of a
sleep disorder.
The close correlation between
sleep disorders and behavior problems in children can be explained in a number of
ways.
Perhaps a child born with a
tendency toward problematic behavior develops sleep problems as well, as a
result. At the same time, it is
reasonable to believe that significant sleep problems will lead to insufficient
sleep or sleep deprivation, which may cause the child to be nervous, impatient,
and harder to manage.
In addition, a third cause,
such as incompatible parenting patterns, may provoke or aggravate both behavior
problems and sleep difficulties.
In treatment centers,
scientists frequently come across babies or young children who are described by
their parents as hyperactive.
The parents use this term
casually, but professionals use it to diagnose a condition—the professional term
is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder— that occurs only in older children.
These babies are described as
especially active and restless and are said to demand attention and seek stimuli
constantly.
Often parents associate their
child’s sleep difficulties with his wakeful restlessness. Occasionally a parent
says something like, “This boy has a turbo engine and he cannot shut it down at
bedtime,” or “He is like the Energizer bunny; he keeps going and going and
going.”
Although hyperactivity is
diagnosed at a later age, there is evidence that most hyperactive children were
overactive, restless babies, with difficult temperaments.
Again, we face a chicken-or-egg
question: are these babies unable to sleep like “normal” babies because they
are unusually active, or does their sleep problem underlie their “hyperactivity”?
In many cases sleep disruption
appears to lead to “hyperactive” behavior patterns, even though no research has
directly confirmed this fact.
More and more evidence
demonstrates that lack of sleep may bring on behavior that resembles that of a hyperactive
child.
From an intuitive perspective
we can all recall methods we use to keep ourselves awake when we are tired.
These methods include
increasing our activity, fidgeting, fiddling with our hands or our facial muscles,
and similar strategies.
This pattern contradicts the expectation
that the tired child will relax and slow down.
The clinical literature has
documented certain cases in which significant sleep problems have been found to
lead to “hyperactive” behavior patterns and later to a wrong diagnosis and
treatment.
It is of utmost importance to
examine the possibility that the sleep disorder is the source and not the
outcome of the “hyperactivity.”
In the event that a sleep
disorder exists, it should be treated before treating the disorders that result
from it.
In some cases treating the
sleep disorder may spare the child from receiving unnecessary medication like
Ritalin, which is the most prescribed chemical response to children’s
behavioral problems.
An erroneous interpretation of
a child’s behavior can also result when she responds to a sleep disorder with heightened
tiredness, indifference, and lack of interest in the environment. This pattern
may be interpreted as depression, and sleep difficulties can be seen as the
result of that condition.
As the professional literature
reveals, such an erroneous diagnosis can result in a failure to detect and
treat a primary sleep disorder, as well as mistaken treatment for depression.
Case studies have shown that when
the problem is diagnosed correctly as a primary sleep disorder and treated accordingly,
there is a parallel improvement in sleep and disappearance of the “depressive” symptoms.
® Intellectual Development
Assessing intelligence in
infancy is a very complex task.
Tests used on infants to assess
early mental abilities that could be considered components of intelligence have
generally failed to predict intelligence or cognitive abilities and
achievements in later ages.
The research on the relation between
sleep and intellectual development has been hampered by our limited capacity to
assess intelligence in infants.
Efforts to study this issue
have failed to provide a clear picture of the situation, and we need to call
upon additional studies on older children and adults to help us consider the
issue more systematically.
Scientists from the University
of Connecticut in Evelyn Thoman’s group, which has contributed significantly to
the field of the study of infant sleep, examined this question. They followed
sleep of newborns over the course of their first two days of life and examined
their development at the age of six months.
Special recording devices
documented the babies’ sleep in hospital bassinets after birth.
The scientists then tested the
mental, motor, and perceptual abilities of the babies at the age of six months,
using the Bayley Test.
They found a correlation between
sleep measures of the newborns on their first day of life and their development
six months later.
Some scientists found a correlation
between sleep disorders in infancy, especially those that are caused by
respiratory problems, and possible shortfalls in intellectual development and
academic achievements at a later age.
Other studies, however, found
no comprehensible correlation between sleep and later mental function.
Studies on older children and
adults have shown that sleep disorders or insufficient sleep primarily
interfere with cognitive abilities associated with attention and concentration.
That is to say that the
ability to focus on certain stimuli for extended time deteriorates.
People who don’t get enough
sleep react more slowly and make more mistakes on tasks that demand attention
and continuous concentration. Although the question of sleep and attention has
not been directly studied in infants, some support for their correlation comes
from indirect approaches.
For example, mothers described
their babies (aged nine to twenty-four months) who suffered from sleep problems
as having trouble concentrating on play or a particular activity for an
extended length of time, and as easily distracted by other stimuli.
In another recent study, sleep
scientists examined the relationship between sleep patterns and learning skills,
concentration, and attention among school-aged children.
The sleep patterns of the
children were examined objectively by using sleep watches, and their learning functions
were examined by computerized tests.
Similar to the results in
studies of adults, they found that children whose quality of sleep deteriorated
(as manifested by many or lengthy awakenings from sleep during the night) also
had decreased attention abilities.
These findings support the
assumption that these critical functions for learning and academic achievement
are adversely affected by sleep disorders among children.
Furthermore, recent studies have
shown that if “normal” children are requested to shorten their sleep for experimental
purposes, they suffer negative consequences, and their learning and attention abilities
are significantly compromised.
On the basis of what we have
learned about older children and adults and from the limited information on infants,
it is fair to conclude that the intellectual abilities of infants are challenged
by disrupted or insufficient sleep.
You May Like:
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