Associations of sleep problems with externalizing behaviors and preacademic performance: The moderating role of family socioeconomic status

Abstract

Previous research has tended to measure sleep problems as an aggregated construct and neglected the potential moderating role of family socioeconomic status (SES). Also, most research has been conducted with school‐aged children and adolescents from European and European–American families. This study filled some of these gaps in the literature by examining whether family SES moderated the associations of bedtime resistance, parasomnia, and disordered breathing with externalizing behaviors and preacademic performance in a community sample of Chinese families with preschool children. Four hundred eighty‐six parents from Hong Kong, China, provided questionnaire data on their preschool children's sleep and adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses evaluated the associations of sleep problems and child adjustment, controlling for demographic factors. Interaction terms were entered to examine whether the associations varied by family SES, as indexed by family income. Results suggested that bedtime resistance, parasomnia, and disordered breathing were positively and uniquely associated with externalizing behaviors. Bedtime resistance was positively associated with externalizing behaviors and negatively associated with preacademic performance in low‐, but not high‐, SES families. Discussion highlighted the utility of a multidimensional approach to studying sleep problems and the potential moderating roles of environmental stressors when examining the impact of sleep on adjustment. Highlights This study examined the associations of sleep problems with externalizing behaviors and preacademic performance. Four hundred eighty‐six Chinese parents provided questionnaire data on their children's sleep and adjustment. Bedtime resistance, parasomnia, and disordered breathing were linked positively to externalizing behaviors. Bedtime resistance was linked positively to externalizing behaviors and negatively to preacademic performance in low‐income families. Results highlighted the importance of considering the potential moderating role of environmental stressors when studying sleep problems.

Parental attitudes toward School and Chinese Adolescents’ Academic Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…For cognitive quality, the negative effect of PAS was significant across different levels of family SES, but the effect decreased as family SES increased. These results are consistent with existing studies that found a compensatory role of the economic advantage of high family SES (Duan et al, 2018; Lam & Chung, 2017).…”

“…For example, studies found that parental involvement had a stronger positive association with academic behaviors among low-SES families than among high-SES families (Duan et al, 2018). Another study on preschool children found that bedtime resistance was positively related to behavioral problems and negatively related to academic performance only among low-SES families but not significantly among high-SES families (Lam & Chung, 2017). The two studies imply that high SES may compensate for the negative role of low parental involvement and poor sleep quality.…”

Linking maternal involvement in child online learning to child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of maternal mindfulness

“…Child pre-academic ability was assessed using a 4-item measure ( Lam & Chung, 2017 ). On a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ( Very Poor ) to 5 ( Very Good ), mothers rated their children’s Chinese, English, Math, and general learning ability (e.g., “This child’s Chinese ability is…”).…”

Longitudinal Relation between Family Socio-Economic Status and Problem Behaviors in Chinese Children: The Roles of Sense of Coherence and Maternal Warmth

“…Research on children’s and adolescents’ social development has been largely focused on problem behaviors, including externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. It is shown that externalizing problem behaviors, such as aggressive, hyperactive, and disruptive behaviors, positively predict peer rejection and low academic performance [ 4 , 5 ]. Similarly, it has also been found that internalizing problem behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression) positively predict sleep problems and peer victimization [ 6 , 7 ].…”