Sleepless on the road: Are mothers of infants with insomnia at risk for impaired driving?

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Version of Record (VoR)

Author(s)
Kahn, Michal
Irwin, Christopher
Pillion, Meg
Whittall, Hannah
Fitton, Josh
Sprajcer, Madeline
Gradisar, Michael
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2023
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

Collections