0281 Short Sleep Duration and Poor Sleep Efficiency Exacerbate Effects of Executive Functioning Problems on Facial Affect Recognition within Disadvantaged and Diverse Mothers

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep problems (e.g., short duration, inefficient sleep) have been found to exacerbate effects of Executive Functioning (EF) problems on social functioning. However, this work has not utilized nuanced measures of social functioning (e.g., dynamic recognition of facial affect) and has not typically examined at-risk populations. This study examined disadvantaged and ethnically diverse mothers, many of whom had histories of perpetrating child neglect (a population at risk for EF problems and misappraisals during social interactions). Previous studies have begun to examine links between EF problems and misappraisals of social situations among this population, however, the role of EF problems in recognition of facial affect, and the moderating role of sleep problems have not been examined. This study predicted that maternal EF problems would be associated with greater inaccuracy for recognizing facial affect, and that this association would be stronger under conditions of poor sleep. Methods: Participants: 91 disadvantaged mothers of preschool-aged children, 29 with histories of perpetrating child neglect. Cognitive Measures: Wisconsin Card Sort (cognitive flexibility); Alternate Uses Test (divergent thinking); Trailmaking Test (EF/ processing speed); WAIS-IV Coding (processing speed); WAIS-IV Digit Span (working memory) Actigraphy-Assessed Sleep Measures: Total sleep time; Sleep efficiency Recognition of Facial Affect: Dynamic Affect Recognition Evaluation (inaccuracy for evaluating facial affect) Results: Factor analysis of EF measures supported a single factor representing global impairment of EF. Maternal EF problems were significantly positively associated with inaccurate recognition of facial affect (β = .25, p = .02). Moderation analyses indicated that sleep duration and sleep efficiency moderated the association between maternal EF problems and inaccurate recognition of facial affect such that the relationship between EF problems and inaccuracy was stronger at lower levels of sleep time and sleep efficiency. Conclusion: Short sleep duration and inefficient sleep exacerbated effects of EF problems on inaccurate recognition of facial affect. Findings suggest that in addition to direct benefits, improving sleep among disadvantaged mothers may mitigate the impact of underlying neurocognitive problems on social functioning.