Sleep Patterns, Sleep Problems and Associations with Reported Sleep Quality in Chinese School-Aged Children

Abstract

Sleep plays a key role not only in children's physical growth, behavior, and emotional development, but also in cognitive functioning. The present study was designed to survey the sleep characteristics and to examine the associations between sleep characteristics and child-reported sleep quality in urban school-aged children of China. A random sample of 19,299 children aged 5.08 to 11.99 years old, 49.7% boys and 50.3% girls with a mean age of 9.00 years old, participated in a cross-sectional survey which was conducted in 8 cities of China. A parentadministered questionnaire and the Chinese version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire were co mpleted to quantify family and personal information and to characterize sleep behaviors. The mean sleep duration was 9.17h (SD=0.80) on weekdays and 9.80h (SD=1.06) at weekends. Sleep problems were commonly existed with a relatively high prevalence ranging from 14.5% for sleep-disordered breathing to 75.3% for daytime sleepiness. There were significant gender and age differences existed in sleep problems. Various kinds of sleep problems and unhealthy sleep patterns were associated with poor sleep quality in Chinese school-aged children. The mean sleep duration was less than the recommended 10 hours per day for school-aged children. Sleep problems were commonly existed, which was beyond our expectation. Sleep problems and unhealthy sleep patterns were harmful to children's sleep quality. A longitudinal study is needed to investigate the trends of sleep behaviors and the relative factors including personal lifestyle, family and social environment so as to intervene and improve children's sleep quality.

The sleep quality and prevalence of sleep disorders in adolescents

“…In Zahang et al study, sleep disorder value was obtained as 14.5% [15]. In Amin Tehran et al study, 11.5% of the sample in the research group had sleep disorders [14]. The reported value in this study is a little lower than the values reported in the two mentioned studies.…”

“…In a study 37.2% of adolescents had sleep disorders [5]. The prevalence of sleep disorders in children and adolescents in Iran is estimated to be between 25% and 30% [14]. Some studies have shown that the prevalence of sleep disorders is higher in girl adolescents than in boys, but this finding is not reliable, and other scholars have found this result dependent on racial and false perceptions.…”

“…Sleep health in adolescents is very important for achieving all-round growth. Sleep is effective not only in the physical growth, but also in behavior, emotions, cognitive function, school performance, and attention of adolescents [14]. Sleep disorders in adolescents cause inability to rise during school time, moodiness during the day, irritability [15,16], lack of concentration [4], destruction of abstract thinking, creativity, learning [9], significant behavioral problems [15], and disorders in motor skills and reaction time [15].…”

Association Between Media Use and Poor Sleep Quality Among Senior High School Students in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Sleep is an essential part of life and plays roles in physical and mental health [1,2]. Adolescents experience signi cant changes including to body and mind associated with sex hormones [3].…”

Youth and Sleep Quality: Association between Poor Sleep Quality and Depression among Senior High School Students in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand: A Cross-sectional Study

“…Sleep is an essential part of life and plays roles in physical and mental health. 1,2 Adolescents experience significant changes including body and mind associated with sex hormones. 3 Concerning the aspect of sleep, a few of studies have found that PSQ was associated with the amount of daytime sleep, exhaustion, weight gain, obesity, impaired memory and motor vehicle accidents.…”