Jalyn Dubois
Pronouns: She/Her
Research Mentor(s): Robin Edelstein
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology / LSA
Program: UROP
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors: Jalyn Dubois, Miranda Reynaga, Annika From, Amie Gordon, Robin Edelstein
Abstract
Previous studies have examined how romantic relationships impact the caregiving of children, but not a lot of work has been done on the relationship between caregiving and sleep. This relationship is important because it impacts not only the wellbeing of the child but the wellbeing of the relationship as well. Sleep amount and quality is incredibly influential in how people treat their partners and their children, thus more thorough research is needed. In addition to measuring sleep, our study also utilizes infant simulators, which have not been used in many studies and represent a novel methodological approach. This research is meaningful because it studies how sleep affects caregiving and romantic relationships, which have long lasting implications for romantic partners and especially their children. Prior to any tasks participants (N = 30 dyads) were given a survey that asked about their relationship and childcare attitudes. Next, participants completed several caregiving tasks using the infant simulator under lab supervision. In between the tasks they had four conversations relating to caregiving, conflict, gratitude, and anticipation for their weekend with the infant simulator. Participants were then sent home for a weekend with the infant simulator and continued to care for it. Couples were randomly selected to have good quality sleep or bad quality sleep. When they came back to the lab they were given another survey and had four more conversations relating to caregiving, conflict, gratitude, and a reflection. Complete results have not been generated as the study is still in progress. To test how sleep affects relationship satisfaction, we will compare the mean relationship satisfaction between the two conditions via independent samples t-test. This research is valuable because it can be applied to any future and current child care givers.
