Persistent Short Sleep from Childhood to Adolescence: Child, Parent and Peer Predictors

Bror M Ranum; Lars Wichstrøm; Ståle Pallesen; Jonas Falch-Madsen; Silje Steinsbekk

doi:10.2147/NSS.S290586

Persistent Short Sleep from Childhood to Adolescence: Child, Parent and Peer Predictors

Nat Sci Sleep. 2021 Feb 15:13:163-175. doi: 10.2147/NSS.S290586. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bror M Ranum¹, Lars Wichstrøm^{1

2}, Ståle Pallesen^{3

4}, Jonas Falch-Madsen¹, Silje Steinsbekk¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
³ Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁴ Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

Purpose: Many children have periods when they sleep too little, with widely recognized detrimental effects. Less is known about persistent short sleep during childhood. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of persistent short sleep in school-aged children and identify a set of child, parent, and peer predictors thereof.

Participants and methods: Objectively measured sleep duration (hip-held accelerometer) was biennially assessed in a community sample followed from 6 to 14 years (n=801). A latent profile analysis was applied to assess whether a subgroup of children slept consistently short across time and predictors of persistent short sleep were determined through regression analysis.

Results: A subgroup of children (n=160; 20.2%) was identified as having persistent short sleep across time. Temperamental negative affectivity (β=0.08; 95% CI=0.01, 0.15; p=0.03) and low observer-assessed parental emotional availability (β=-.09; 95% CI=-.18, -.01; p=0.04) predicted membership to that group. Teacher ratings of victimization from bullying were not associated with persistent short sleep (β=0.01; 95% CI: -.10, 11; p=0.88).

Conclusion: High child temperamental negative affectivity and low parental emotional availability may be involved in the development of persistent short sleep through childhood.

Keywords: actigraphy; childhood; early adolescence; insufficient sleep; negative affectivity; parental emotional availability; prospective cohort study; sleep duration; victimization from bullying.