Embedding co‐sleeping practice within the family systems paradigm: Novel theoretical conceptualization and initial empirical exploration

A critical co‐sleeping literature review revealed individualistic and dyadic guided approaches taken insofar, ridden by conflicting results. Thereby, we situated our approach beyond the individual and dyad area where we developed anew a systemic co‐sleeping paradigm, resulting in theoretical and preliminary empirical findings. Initial cross‐gender analyses associated significantly co‐sleeping with Bowen Family Systems Theory's cornerstone constructs. However, once the moderating effect of gender was examined, significance disappeared across the board for females yet persisted for males. Specifically, male‐children time‐persistent co‐sleeping was associated negatively with differentiation and positively with chronic anxiety and other hypothesized maladjustment effects (guilty feelings and abandonment feelings if moved away from parents). Effects drew attention to Bowen's systemic construct of intergenerational emotional fusion. Guided by the empirical associations, we focused on gender development differences literature. We suggest that triangulation processes dynamically embed co‐sleeping within the family systems paradigm, with the embedment appearing to be significantly gendered.