Authors:

Alexandra Ehrhardt

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About Paper:

Youth with a history of attachment insecurity in childhood are at increased risk for later negative peer experiences such as peer victimization. However, the long-term and multiplicative effects of attachment insecurity and peer victimization on sleep, a multifaceted domain of development linked to multiple health processes, remain uncertain. Guided by dual-risk models, this study tested whether children's attachment histories to mothers and fathers moderate the association between peer victimization in adolescence and sleep problems from adolescence into emerging adulthood. Data from 360 participants spanning ages 9-24 were used (45% female; 58% White, 27% African American; Mincome = 20-35k). Maternal and paternal attachment assessed via the Inventory of Parents and Peers Attachment at ages 9-10, and peer victimization measured via the Social Experiences Questionnaire at ages 15-17 were examined. Established sleep parameters in adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 22-24) were assessed with actigraphy over one week. Variables included duration (minutes of sleep from onset to wake time), efficiency (% of time asleep from onset to wake time), and midpoint (chronobiology - morningness/eveningness preferences), with eveningness associated with worse developmental outcomes. This work was funded by NICHD R01-HD046795. Multivariate latent change score models revealed significant interactions for peer victimization with both maternal (p = .002) and paternal attachment (p = .001) in separate models. Decreasing attachment to either parent in childhood was associated with increased preference for eveningness from adolescence to emerging adulthood for youth who exhibited increasing, versus decreasing, peer victimization across adolescence. Supporting a dual-risk framework, findings suggest insecure attachments to both mothers and fathers amplify the effects of negative peer experiences in adolescence on long-term changes in sleep chronobiology.

Source:

Auburn University / College of Human Sciences / 2025

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Co-authors:

Alexandra Ehrhardt