Are Children Getting Enough Sleep? Implications for Parents

Abstract

Sleeping is a child's primary activity; by the time an average child goes to school they will have spent more time sleeping than engaging in any other activity, such as playing, eating or interacting socially. Disturbances of sleep (especially sleeplessness) are one of the most frequent child behaviour problems to be reported by parents, affecting about 30% of typically developing children and adolescents. The definition of ‘sleeplessness problems’ will be considered noting how, with child sleeplessness, the complainant and the sufferer are frequently not the same person (frequently parents are the former and the children the latter), and that this has implications for how we should define and, where appropriate, attempt to ‘treat’ these problems. Parental perceptions and parental sleep patterns, moreover, may be key in understanding how some child sleeplessness problems are conceptualised, how they might impact on the child and family and the mechanisms by which successful intervention for childhood sleeplessness may result in benefits for families. The author suggests that child sleeplessness might be better theoretically conceptualised as comprising two distinct states with different causes and effects. Firstly, a ‘biologically-defined sleeplessness‘ characterised by a child having objectively impaired sleep quantity and/or quality, relative to their biological sleep needs. Secondly, a ‘socially-defined sleeplessness’ characterised by the child's sleep pattern deviating from a desired sleep pattern. Judgements about what constitutes a ‘desired’ sleep pattern will be influenced by multiple factors including expectations and culture. Both of these states may exist independently, or co-exist. Both of these states must be considered in order to decide whether or not children are getting enough sleep.

Sleep, emotional and behavioral difficulties in children and adolescents

“…sleeplessness) there is lack of consensus concerning what constitutes a problem. 7 A final issue concerns measurement.…”

Sleep in Childhood and Adolescence: Age-Specific Sleep Characteristics, Common Sleep Disturbances and Associated Difficulties

“…DSPS is characterised by late sleep onset times and wake up times and presents as an extreme tendency towards eveningness which is out--of--sync with societal norms (AASM, 2005). In children and adolescents, it is possible that disruptions from sleep may be problematic not only for the sufferer, but for other family members whose sleep may be disrupted by the abnormalities of sleep from the primary complainant (Wiggs 2007). Thus it is possible that sleep patterns characteristic of children with DSPS may also be parents.…”

A preliminary investigation into the effectiveness of a group-delivered sleep management intervention for parents of children with intellectual disabilities

“…Sleep problems are associated with poor outcomes for both the parent (for example, heightened levels of parental stress and irritability; Quine, 1991;Wiggs, 2007;Tietze et al, 2014;Wiggs and Stores, 1998) and child (for example, poorer educational progress and daytime behaviour problems; Simola et al, 2014). Parents consistently prioritise the need for support with their child's sleep problems (Beresford, 1995;Allard et al, 2014).…”