Sleepless on the road: Are mothers of infants with insomnia at risk for impaired driving?
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Irwin, Christopher
Pillion, Meg
Whittall, Hannah
Fitton, Josh
Sprajcer, Madeline
Gradisar, Michael
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
Infant sleep problems have been associated with a myriad of adverse child and parent outcomes, yet whether these problems may pose a risk for parents on the road has received little research attention. This study sought to test whether mothers of infants with insomnia are at an elevated risk for vehicular crashes, by comparing their objectively measured driving performance with that of mothers of well-sleeping infants and with that of women without children. Fifty-four women from these three groups completed a simulated driving task. Outcome measures included standard deviation of lateral position, number of lane crossings, standard deviation of speed, average speed and maximum speed. Women additionally reported on their driving behaviour using the Driving Behaviour Questionnaire, and on sleep, sleepiness and insomnia symptoms using 7-day sleep diaries and questionnaires. Mothers of infants with insomnia demonstrated greater lane deviation (Wald = 9.53, p = 0.009), higher maximum speed (Wald = 6.10, p = 0.04) and poorer self-rated driving behaviour (Wald = 7.44, p = 0.02) compared with control groups. Analyses also indicated that driving performance in mothers of infants with insomnia tended to be poorer relative to control groups with the progression of time on task. While further research is needed to assess the scope of these effects, our findings suggest that parents, healthcare providers and policymakers should be aware of the potential consequences of infant sleep problems on road safety, and collaborate to establish strategies to mitigate these risks.
Journal Title
Journal of Sleep Research
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Sleep Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Sleep Research Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Item Access Status
Note
This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Applied and developmental psychology
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Psychology
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Clinical Neurology
Neurosciences
Neurosciences & Neurology
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Kahn, M; Irwin, C; Pillion, M; Whittall, H; Fitton, J; Sprajcer, M; Gradisar, M, Sleepless on the road: Are mothers of infants with insomnia at risk for impaired driving?, Journal of Sleep Research, 2023, pp. e14083