Abstract Introduction Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) is a time of identity exploration and newfound independence. It also increases the risk of sleep problems due to inconsistent schedules, academic stress, and social demands. Parental overprotection, which restricts autonomy and independence, can worsen these challenges by limiting an emerging adult's ability to handle stress and manage emotions. In contrast, religiosity can act as a protective factor, providing support and coping mechanisms that help alleviate the negative impacts of overprotection. Despite this, there is limited research on how religiosity may influence the relationship between parenting behaviors and sleep. Thus, we explored whether emerging adult religiosity moderated the relationship between parenting behaviors and emerging adult trouble sleeping. Methods Emerging adults (18-25) completed surveys in an online data collection and reported on their perceptions of their parents’ parenting behaviors and their own religiosity and sleep (N=886, age M=22.73, 60.2% female). Measures included the Parental Bonding Instrument subscales (care, overprotection), Stearns-McKinney Assessment of Religiosity Traits (overall score), and Adult Self Report subscales (trouble sleeping item). PROCESS examined moderation analyses, controlling for age and gender. Results Emerging adult religiosity moderated the relationship between maternal overprotection and emerging adult trouble sleeping F(1, 873)=7.08, p=.008, such that greater overprotection was associated with greater trouble sleeping among those with intermediate (t=4.18, p.001) and highest religiosity (t=4.34, p.001). Emerging adult religiosity moderated the relationship between maternal care and emerging adult trouble sleeping F(1, 881)=5.12, p=.024, such that greater care was associated with less trouble sleeping among those with lowest (t=2.16, p=.031), intermediate (t=6.05, p.001), and highest religiosity (t=5.34, p.001). Conclusion Results suggest that parenting behaviors continue to impact children’s sleep once they are emerging adults, and that higher religiosity may strengthen the impact of parenting on emerging adult sleep. This may occur because studies have shown that emerging adults who are more religious are often closer to their parents and thus may be more impacted by their parents’ behaviors. Future studies should examine whether balancing parental support with autonomy may enhance sleep in EA, particularly those who are religious. Support (if any)
Atiq et al. (Fri,) studied this question.