Family Contexts of Sleep and Health Across the Life Course, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017
National Symposium on Family Issues Series, Vol. 8

This unique volume advances the literature on sleep and health by illuminating the impacts of family dynamics on individuals? quality and quantity of sleep. Its lifespan perspective extends across childhood, adolescence, adulthood and older age considering both phenomena of individual development and family system dynamics, particularly parent-child and marital relationships. It extends, as well, to the broader contexts of social disparities in sleep as a significant health behavior.  Emerging concepts and practical innovations include ancestral roots of sleep in family contexts, sleep studies as a lens for understanding family health, and methodologies, particularly the use of actigraphy technology, for studying sleep patterns in individuals and families. This rich area of inquiry holds significant keys to understanding a vital human behavior and its critical role in physical, psychological, and relational health and wellbeing.

Among the topics covered:

·         Couple dynamics and sleep quality in an international perspective.

Family Contexts of Sleep and Health Across the Life Course will advance the work of researchers and students in the fields of population health, family demography and sociology, sleep research and medicine, human development, neuroscience, biobehavioral health, and social welfare, as well as that of policymakers and health and human services practitioners.   

Infant Sleep in a Family Context.- Sleep and Development:  Familial and Socio-cultural Considerations.-  Relationship Quality: Implications for Sleep Quality and Sleep Disorders.- Couple Dynamics and Sleep Quality in International Perspective.- Sleep, Marriage and Social Engagement among Older Adults.- Family Influences on Sleep: Comparative and Historical-Evolutionary Perspectives.- Sociodemographic, Psychosocial, and Contextual Factors in Children’s Sleep.-  How Can Family Scholars Advance Understanding of Sleep and Health?.- Studying Sleep in Family Contexts Via Actigraphy and Wearable Devices.- Dynamic Interplay Between Sleep and Family Life: Review and Directions for Future Research.

​Susan M. McHale, PhD, is Director of the Social Science Research Institute and Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Professor of Demography at Penn State. Her research focuses on children's and adolescents' family roles, relationships, and daily experiences and how these family dynamics are linked to youth development and adjustment. Dr. McHale’s research highlights family gender dynamics, including how differential family experiences of sisters and brothers are linked to the choices they make in the areas of education, work, and family formation. Dr. McHale also investigates the socio-cultural contexts of family dynamics including how parents’ and youths’ values, practices, and daily experiences have implications for family life and youth adjustment in African American and Mexican American families. Most recently her work has extended to the links between family dynamics, particularly family stressors, and youths’ physical health.

Engages current research in the new role of families in healthful sleep patterns

Offers multidisciplinary perspectives from a range of social science disciplines that affect family influences that influence healthful and unhealthful sleep patterns

Encompasses research on the family contexts of sleep across the human lifespan

Appeals to a diverse readership: researchers, professors, graduate students, policy makers, policy analysts, and human service administrators

Highlights important new directions for family scholars working in varied disciplines in an understudied but significant public health arena