0836 Similarities and Differences in Maternal and Paternal Bed-sharing Beliefs in Mexican American Couples with Toddlers

Abstract Introduction Room-sharing, but not bed-sharing is recommended for safe sleep, and pediatric behavioral sleep interventions commonly recommend a separate child sleep space, even when room-sharing. However, bed-sharing is more common globally and across cultural groups than in U.S.-based non-Latino White families. Further, most research has focused on maternal beliefs about bed-sharing, with little consideration of paternal beliefs. This exploratory study describes similarities and differences in maternal and paternal beliefs about bed-sharing in Mexican American couples with toddlers. Methods Fourteen Mexican American couples (mothers 27-41 years, mean education 12.8 + 3.7 years and fathers 27-45 years, mean education 11.1 + 3.4 years) with toddlers (78.6% boys; 12-15 months) completed the 17-item Bed-sharing Beliefs measure in Spanish (50%) or English. Half of families reported bed-sharing with their toddler. Although data collection is ongoing, we describe dyadic concordance (dyads both agree or disagree) or discordance (one person agrees, the other disagrees) in the current sample. Results The most dyadic concordant responses were parent sleep/privacy items: “bed-sharing interferes with the parents privacy” (100% concordance: 93% agree), “bed-sharing makes the parents sleep poorly” (86% concordance: 64% agree), and “bed-sharing helps the parent sleep well” (79% concordance, 36% agree). Teaching the child to sleep independently items also had strong dyadic concordant responses: “bed-sharing makes the transition to their own bed harder” (79% concordance, 64% agree), “bed-sharing makes it harder for the child to sleep on their own” (79% concordance, 64% agree), and “bed-sharing makes the child dependent on the parent to sleep” (77% concordance, 62% agree). The greatest dyadic discordant responses were related to the child’s sleep quality: 62% discordance for both “bed-sharing keeps the child from sleeping comfortably” and “bed-sharing interferes with the child’s sleep.” No differences between bed-sharing and non-bedsharing dyads were found. Conclusion Early findings from our ongoing study of sleep beliefs in Mexican American families with toddlers suggest greater parental concordance about the impact of bed-sharing on parental privacy/sleep and toddlers learning to sleep independently, with discordant beliefs about the impact of bed-sharing on child sleep quality. Further exploration of dyadic parental beliefs about bed-sharing and the relationship with sleep location is needed in a larger sample. Support (if any) R01HL163859