Profiles of sleep problems were related with behavioral and emotional during the transition from childhood to adolescence.
During the transition from childhood to adolescence, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry identified profiles of sleep problems which were related with behavioral and emotional problems.
Investigators from the University of Melbourne in Australia sourced data for this study from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study which was an observational cohort study conducted in a community setting in the United States.
Caregivers of children (N=10,313) completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) and the 113-item Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) instruments at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up between 2016 and 2020. The change in sleep problems and their relationship with psychopathology symptoms during the transition from childhood and adolescence were evaluated. Sleep pathology was defined as a SDSC t score of 70 or greater and internalizing, externalizing, and total problems were defined as SDSC t scores of 65 or greater.
At baseline, the children were mean age 119 (SD, 7.51) months, 52.4% were boys, 54.0% were White, they had a BMI of 18.7 (SD, 3.72) kg/m2, and 42.7% had a parent with psychopathology.
"The identification of discrete sleep profiles suggests that interventions should target specific patterns of sleep problems as an alternative to nonspecific targeting of sleep difficulties."
At baseline, 7.9% met the criteria for sleep problems, 8.9% for internalizing problems, and 8.8% for externalizing problems. At follow-up, the proportion who met the criteria for sleep (7.8%) and internalizing (8.8%) problems were similar but the proportion who met the criteria for externalizing symptoms had decreased from baseline (7.3%).
Comments