Maternal Parenting Styles and Nighttime Diaper Use in Early Childhood: The Japan Environment and Children's Study.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between maternal parenting style and nighttime diaper use in early childhood.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study, a nationwide prospective birth cohort. Maternal parenting styles were categorized as Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive, or Uninvolved using responsiveness and demandingness scores from a validated parenting attitude questionnaire. Nighttime diaper use was assessed at ages 3 and 4 years. Multivariable modified Poisson regression with robust error variance was applied to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) for nighttime diaper use at age 3 and adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) for its persistence from ages 3 to 4.

Results: The cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses included 65 765 and 54 915 mother-child pairs, respectively. Compared with the Uninvolved style, aPRs for nighttime diaper use at age 3 were 0.96 (95% CI, 0.95-0.97) for Authoritative, 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98-1.00) for Authoritarian, and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99-1.00) for Permissive styles. The corresponding aRRs for persistent nighttime diaper use were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91-0.95), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94-0.98), and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96-1.01). No significant interaction was found with child sex, whereas a significant interaction was observed between child developmental status and Authoritarian style.

Conclusions: Maternal parenting styles were associated with nighttime diaper use at age 3 and its persistence at age 4. Although nighttime diaper use is not a direct measure of nocturnal continence, these findings suggest that maternal caregiving context may be relevant to early nighttime diaper discontinuation before school age.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: UMIN000030786.