Poor Parental Sleep and the Reported Sleep Quality of Their Children

BACKGROUND: Pediatric sleep disturbances are regularly diagnosed on the basis of parental reports. However, the impact of parental sleeping problems on parental perceptions and reports of their child’s sleep has not yet been studied. We hypothesized that poor parental sleep decreases the parent-reported child sleep quality. METHODS: A 1-week actigraph recording was performed in 100 children aged 2 to 6 years recruited in 16 day care centers. Their biological parents completed a sleep diary and a Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) on children’s sleep. The parents also completed the Jenkins’ sleep scale on their own sleep, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, and questions on demographic factors. Linear regression analyses were performed to study the association of the parental Jenkins’ score on their child’s total SDSC score. Analyses were also performed for 3 of the subscales of the SDSC: disorders of excessive somnolence, disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep, and sleep-wake transition disorders. RESULTS: Parental sleeping problems were associated with more frequent reporting of children’s sleeping problems. This association was unexplained by the actigraph measures of children’s sleep, such as actual 24-hour sleep time and sleep efficiency, parental mental health problems, or any other tested potential confounder or mediator. Similar correlations were seen for the 3 analyzed subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Parental sleep quality was associated with overreporting of sleep problems in their children. This finding emphasizes the importance of considering parental sleep quality in the diagnosis, treatment, and research of pediatric sleeping problems.