Behavior Characteristics and Security in Sleep-Disturbed Infants Treated with Extinction

Abstract

Measured and compared the behavior characteristics and security scores of 35 infants (6–24 months) treated with extinction for sleep disturbance with those of 13 untreated and 15 normal sleep controls. There was no evidence of detrimental effects on the treated infants whose security, emotionality/tension, and likeability scores improved. The findings are congruent with those from a previous study with preschoolers and have important implications for the prevention of later behavior problems in sleep-disturbed children.

extinction, infants, sleep, behavior characteristics