College
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor Information
Melanie Stearns
Description
Grandparents raising grandchildren face heightened caregiving demands that may strain cognitive functioning and disrupt family routines. Cognitive failures—such as lapses in attention, memory, or action—can undermine caregiving quality and are associated with difficulty maintaining consistent bedtime routines. This may lead to disrupted sleep and longer sleep onset latency (SOL) in grandchildren. Despite the growing number of grandparent caregivers in the United States, little research has examined how caregiver cognitive functioning interacts with caregiving responsibility to influence child sleep. Grandparents (N = 185, Mage = 54.31, 79.8% female) responsible for caring for their grandchildren (Mage = 8.05, 49.4% female) completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. They reported weekly caregiving hours (0 to 40+) and their grandchild’s average SOL. Moderation analyses (SPSS PROCESS), controlling for grandchild and grandparent age and sex, showed a significant interaction between cognitive failures and caregiving responsibility in predicting SOL (R² = .15, p = .001). Greater cognitive failures were associated with longer SOL among grandparents with higher caregiving responsibility (p = .04). A main effect of cognitive failures on SOL was also observed (p = .04). These findings suggest grandchildren may be more affected by caregiver cognitive strain when grandparents play a central caregiving role. Future research should examine parenting behaviors as mediators and use longitudinal designs to clarify causal pathways.
Faulty Focus, Sleep Suffers: Grandparent Caregiving Responsibility and Grandchild Sleep
Grandparents raising grandchildren face heightened caregiving demands that may strain cognitive functioning and disrupt family routines. Cognitive failures—such as lapses in attention, memory, or action—can undermine caregiving quality and are associated with difficulty maintaining consistent bedtime routines. This may lead to disrupted sleep and longer sleep onset latency (SOL) in grandchildren. Despite the growing number of grandparent caregivers in the United States, little research has examined how caregiver cognitive functioning interacts with caregiving responsibility to influence child sleep. Grandparents (N = 185, Mage = 54.31, 79.8% female) responsible for caring for their grandchildren (Mage = 8.05, 49.4% female) completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. They reported weekly caregiving hours (0 to 40+) and their grandchild’s average SOL. Moderation analyses (SPSS PROCESS), controlling for grandchild and grandparent age and sex, showed a significant interaction between cognitive failures and caregiving responsibility in predicting SOL (R² = .15, p = .001). Greater cognitive failures were associated with longer SOL among grandparents with higher caregiving responsibility (p = .04). A main effect of cognitive failures on SOL was also observed (p = .04). These findings suggest grandchildren may be more affected by caregiver cognitive strain when grandparents play a central caregiving role. Future research should examine parenting behaviors as mediators and use longitudinal designs to clarify causal pathways.
