Bilgin, AytenMorales-Muñoz, IsabelWinsper, CatherineWolke, Dieter2024-08-012024-08-012024-07-21Bilgin A, Morales-Muñoz I, Winsper C, Wolke D. Associations between bed-sharing in infancy and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Attach Hum Dev. 2024 Jul 21:1-20. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2024.2380427. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39033345.10.1080/14616734.2024.238042739033345http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14200/5263Bed-sharing is a controversial but common parenting practice with claimed benefits for emotional and behavioral development. Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N = 16,599), this prospective study investigated whether bed-sharing at 9 months is associated with childhood internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories. Children were grouped by their patterns of co-developing internalizing and externalizing symptoms from 3 to 11 years of age using a parallel process latent class growth analysis. There were no associations between bed-sharing at 9 months of age and internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories across childhood. This finding suggests that bed-sharing at 9 months has no positive or negative influence on the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms across childhood. Clinicians should inform parents that bed-sharing during the second half of the first year is unlikely to have an impact on the later emotional and behavioral development of the children.enMental healthPaediatricsArticle