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theses

One of the key factors for child cognitive and behavioral functioning is adequate amount of sleep (Touchette et al., 2007). Night awakenings and sleep disordered breathing are two factors that can negatively impact a child’s sleep quality (Lavigne et al., 1999). Some research suggests that externalizing behaviors are related to insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality (Lavine et al., 1999; Gottlieb et al., 2003). The current study hypothesized that children with insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality would exhibit more externalizing behaviors. This study also explored the differences in sleep among different ethnic groups. 141 caregivers of children between the ages of 1 and 5 completed three surveys assessing demographic variables, sleep quantity, and sleep quality. Teachers completed two surveys assessing daytime sleepiness and daytime behaviors. On average, the children were reported as receiving 11 hours of 24-hour sleep and a sleep
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onset latency of 28.1 minutes. Thirty-four percent of children had one or more-night awakening and 12.1% had high risk symptoms of sleep disordered breathing. After controlling for child sex, teacher report of daytime externalizing behaviors was significantly associated with teacher report of daytime sleepiness (β=0.37, p<.001). However, teacher report of daytime externalizing behavior was not significantly correlated with parent report of 24-hour sleep (β = 0.01, p=.720) or symptoms of sleep disordered breathing (β =0.03, p=.978). There was no difference in daytime externalizing behaviors (F(1,115)=0.64, p=.425,) for the presence (M=2.09, SD=1.13) or absence (M=1.96, SD=1.26) of night awakenings. Controlling for child sex and age, daytime externalizing behaviors were not associated with sleep onset latency (β =-0.00, p=.967). Finally, there were no differences between race/ethnicity and sleep variables. Contrary to hypotheses, teacher report of daytime externalizing behavior was not related to parent report of sleep. Nonetheless, teacher report of daytime sleepiness was strongly positively correlated with daytime externalizing behavior, suggesting that sleepiness may be affecting preschoolers’ daytime behaviors. Other studies (Bates et al., 2002; Goodlin- Jones et al., 2009) found similar results, where indicators of poor sleep were not directly related to daytime behavior in preschool children, suggesting that the relationship of sleep and daytime behaviors may be more complex.

ETD_10009

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-7bm8-2p50

ETD graduate

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