Original ArticleYoung child and maternal sleep in the Middle East
Section snippets
Participants
Mothers of 669 infants and toddlers from Arabic-speaking countries (163 Saudi Arabia, 90 Egypt, 77 Algeria, 45 United Arab Emirates, 44 Jordan, 34 Morocco, 29 Iraq, 22 Kuwai, 22 Oman, 20 Palestinian territories, 15 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 14 Bahrain, 11 Israel, and 83 from other Arab countries) participated in this study. The average age of the children was 15.9 months (range: birth to three years; SD = 10.25), evenly distributed across boys (50.2%) and girls (49.8%).
Procedure
All data were collected
Demographics
Complete demographic data for the sample are provided in Table 1. Overall, there were equal proportion of boys (50.2%) and girls (49.8%), χ2 = 0.01, p = 0.91. The majority of mothers (45.3%) were between 25 and 29 years old, most had a college degree (57.4%), and the majority were not employed outside the home (72.9%).
Child sleep
Data on nighttime and daytime sleep are presented in Table 2. Compared to both PC and PA countries/regions, young children in the ME had later bedtimes, later waketimes, more
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study that has investigated sleep in infants and toddlers, and their mothers, in Arabic-speaking families in the ME. Overall, compared to PA and PC countries/regions, young children in the ME and their mothers have a delayed sleep schedule, going to bed late in the evening and waking up late in the morning. Furthermore, approximately one-third of the mothers report that their child has a sleep problem and three-quarters experience poor sleep themselves.
Conclusions
In conclusion, these results add to what is known about sleep in young children and their mothers throughout the world. There are many interesting differences and similarities. Differences include a shifted sleep schedule by one to two hours, a high number of night wakings in both the young children and their mothers, and significantly high prevalence of poor sleep in mothers. Similarities include the influence of bedtimes, bedtime routines, and falling asleep independently on sleep outcomes
Funding
This study was supported by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.
Disclosure
Jodi Mindell has served as a consultant and speaker for Johnson & Johnson. Avi Sadeh has served as a consultant for Johnson & Johnson. Christina Lee is an employee of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.
Acknowledgments
This study was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.
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