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:

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Sleep and development: familial and sociocultural considerations.

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Relationship quality: implications for sleep quality and sleep disorders.

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Couple dynamics and sleep quality in an international perspective.

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Family influences on sleep: comparative and historical-evolutionary perspectives.

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Sociodemographic, psychosocial, and contextual factors in children’s sleep.

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Dynamic interplay between sleep and family life: review and directions for future research.

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.