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Mothers' Sleep Deficits And Cognitive Performance: Moderation By Stress And Age, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Mamatha Chary, Maureen E. Mcquillan, Angela D. Staples, John E. Bates

Psychological and Brain Sciences Faculty Publication Series

There are well-known associations between stress, poor sleep, and cognitive deficits, but little is known about their interactive effects, which the present study explored in a sample of mothers of toddlers. Since certain types of cognitive decline start during the 20s and continue into later ages, we also explored whether mothers' age interacted with stress and sleep in the prediction of cognitive functioning. We hypothesized that poorer sleep [measured using one week of 24-hour wrist actigraphy data] and having more chronic stressors [e.g., life events, household chaos, work/family role conflict] would be linked with poorer cognitive performance [both executive function …