Behavioral and neural concordance in parent-child dyadic sleep patterns

Sleep habits developed in adolescence shape long-term trajectories of psychological, educational, and physiological well-being. Adolescents’ sleep behaviors are shaped by their parents’ sleep at both the behavioral and biological levels. In the current study, we sought to examine how neural concordance in resting-state functional connectivity between parent-child dyads is associated with dyadic concordance in sleep duration and adolescents’ sleep quality. To this end, we scanned both parents and their child (N = 28 parent-child dyads; parent M(age) = 42.8 years; adolescent M(age) = 14.9 years; 14.3% father; 46.4% female adolescent) as they each underwent a resting-state scan. Using daily diaries, we also assessed dyadic concordance in sleep duration across two weeks. Our results show that greater daily concordance in sleep behavior is associated with greater neural concordance in default-mode network connectivity between parents and children. Moreover, greater neural and behavioral concordances in sleep is associated with more optimal sleep quality in adolescents. The current findings expand our understanding of dyadic concordance by providing a neurobiological mechanism by which parents and children share daily sleep behaviors.