Sleep timing and child and parent outcomes in australian 4-9-year-olds: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

Publication date: Available online 21 June 2016
Source:Sleep Medicine
Author(s): Jon Quach, Anna MH Price, Michael Bittman, Harriet Hiscock
ObjectivesUse national Australian time-diary data to examine both (1) cross-sectionally and (2) longitudinally, whether being late versus early to sleep or wake is associated with poorer child behavior, quality of life, learning, cognition and weight status, and parental mental health.MethodsDesign/setting: Data from the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Participants: A nationally-representative sample of 4983 4-5 year olds, recruited in 2004 from the Australian Medicare database and followed biennially; 3631 had analyzable sleep information and a concurrent measure of health and wellbeing for at least one wave. Measures: Exposure: Parents completed 24 hour child time-use diaries for one week and one weekend day at each wave. Using median splits, sleep timing was categorized into: Early-to-sleep/Early-to-wake (EE), Early-to-sleep/Late-to-wake (EL), Late-to-sleep/Early-to-wake (LE), and Late-to-sleep/Late-to-wake (LL) at each wave. Outcomes: Parent-reported child behavior, health-related quality of life, maternal/paternal mental health; teacher-reported child language, literacy, mathematical thinking, approach to learning; study assessed child body mass index and girth.Results(1) Using EE as the comparator, linear regression analyses revealed that being Late-to-sleep was associated with poorer child quality of life from 6-9 years and maternal mental health at 6-7 years. There was inconsistent or no evidence for associations between sleep timing and all other outcomes. (2) Using a count of the number of times (waves) at which a child was categorized as late-to-sleep (range 0-3), longitudinal analyses demonstrated that there was a cumulative effect of late-to-sleep profiles on poorer child and maternal outcomes at child age 8-9 years.ConclusionsExamined cross-sectionally, sleep timing is a driver of children's quality of life and maternal depression. Examined longitudinally, there appears to be a cumulative and adverse relationships between late-to-sleep profiles and poorer child and maternal outcomes at child age 8-9 years. Understanding how other parameters – like scheduling consistency, sleep efficiency and hygiene – are also related to child and parent outcomes will help health professionals better target sleep management advice to families.



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