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Sleep Characteristics and Behavioral Problems Among Children of Alcoholics and Controls
Author(s) -
Wong Maria M.,
Brower Kirk J.,
Conroy Deirdre A.,
Lachance Kathryn A.,
Craun Elizabeth A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13585
Subject(s) - sleep (system call) , psychology , child behavior checklist , checklist , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , actigraphy , psychiatry , insomnia , computer science , cognitive psychology , operating system
Background Past research has indicated that both sleep difficulties and a parental history of alcoholism increase the risk of behavioral problems. But it is not known whether sleep difficulties differentially increase the risk of problem behaviors among children of alcoholics (COAs) and controls. We compared multiple measures of sleep and the relationships between sleep and behavioral problems in these 2 groups of children. Methods One hundred and fifteen children aged 8 to 12 (67% COAs; 56% girls; M age = 10.85, SD age = 1.51) participated in this study. Data presented here were taken from Time 1 of a larger prospective study designed to understand the relationship between sleep and alcohol use. All participants were naïve to alcohol and other illicit drugs. Participants were asked to wear an actigraph watch on their nondominant wrist for 1 week. Parents completed the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Results Parents of COAs were more likely to rate their children as overtired compared with parents of non‐COAs. Structural equation modeling analyses focusing on overall internalizing and externalizing problems did not reveal any group differences on the relationships between sleep measures and behavioral problems. Regression analyses focusing on specific behavioral problems showed that longer total sleep time, parental ratings of “sleep more” and “sleep less” than other children interacted with COA status to predict specific behavioral problems. Conclusions Sleep difficulties and duration appear to be a general risk factor for behavioral problems in both COAs and non‐COAs, yet the relationships between specific sleep parameters and behavioral problems appear to be different between the 2 groups.