Sleep, Affect, and Social Competence from Preschool to Preadolescence: Distinct Pathways to Emotional and Social Adjustment for Boys and for Girls

Abstract

Using a normative sample of 1,057 children studied across 4 waves over 6 years with multiple informants, we investigated transactional relations for sleep problems, anxious-depressed symptoms, and social functioning from preschool to preadolescence, assessing cumulative effects on children's emotional and social adjustment. To examine sex differences in the developmental processes, we conducted separate analyses for boys and girls. For both boys and girls, longitudinal cross-lagged panel analyses showed that preschool sleep problems directly predicted anxious-depressed symptoms 2 years later; indirect effects continued into preadolescence. For girls, early and later sleep problems directly or indirectly predicted a wide variety of preadolescent emotional and social adjustment domains (e.g., depressive symptoms, school competence, emotion regulation, risk-taking behaviors). For boys, social competence played a more important role than sleep problems in predicting preadolescent adjustment. Among the first set of findings that demonstrate longitudinal relations between sleep problems and social functioning in middle childhood and preadolescence, these results support Dahl's and Walker's neurological models of sleep and emotional functioning. We discuss these findings in light of relations between sleep and affect during pre-pubertal development and discuss differential findings for boys and girls.

Sleep restriction alters children’s positive emotional responses, but effects are moderated by anxiety

“…For example, sleep problems beginning in infancy exert persistent negative effects on children’s emotional regulation through the school‐aged years (Williams, Berthelsen, Walker & Nicholson, 2017). Sleep problems in preschoolers predict higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms in middle childhood, which in turn predict greater emotional reactivity during the preadolescent years (Foley & Weinraub, 2017). In light of the public health epidemic of inadequate sleep in youth (Singh & Kenney, 2013), understanding the precise pathways through which early sleep generates (or potentially buffers against) affective risk is of paramount importance.…”

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory-Child Version in Chinese Children

“…Parents are asked to rate how well each of the twelve statements describes their child on a five-point Likert scale, from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very well). In previous studies with elementary school-aged children, this measure has yielded one total and two reliable subscales: emotion regulation and prosocial/communication skills (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group [Cpprg], 1995; Corrigan, 2003; Foley and Weinraub, 2017; Milligan et al, 2017). Internal consistencies are from 0.76 to 0.82 for emotion regulation, 0.74–0.84 for prosocial/communication skills, and 0.84–0.89 for the total score (Corrigan, 2003; Milligan et al, 2017).…”

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