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Sleep problems, sleepiness and daytime behavior in preschool‐age children
Author(s) -
GoodlinJones Beth,
Tang Karen,
Liu Jingyi,
Anders Thomas F.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02110.x
Subject(s) - psychology , sleep (system call) , developmental psychology , daytime , clinical psychology , atmospheric sciences , computer science , geology , operating system
Background: Sleep problems are a common complaint of parents of preschool children. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders have even more disrupted sleep than typically developing children. Although disrupted nighttime sleep has been reported to affect daytime behavior, the pathway from sleep disruption to sleep problems, to impairments in daytime performance or behavior is not clear. This multi‐method, preliminary study assessed this path in 68 children with autism, matched to 57 children with developmental delay without autism and 69 children developing typically. Methods: Actigraphy, structured questionnaires, laboratory assessments, and parent reports were obtained in 194 children. Results: Controlling for diagnosis and developmental age of the child, nighttime sleep problems determined by parent reports were significantly associated with decrements in daytime behavior, also measured by parent report instruments. However, actigraph‐defined sleep problems and objective measures of daytime sleepiness were not associated with decrements in daytime performance. Conclusions: Parent report measures substantiate relationships between disrupted sleep patterns and waking behavior. Further understanding of the pathway from sleep disorders to daytime sleepiness and decrements in waking performance, however, may require more rigorous methods of assessment such as polysomnography and the multiple sleep latency test.