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Factors affecting nightmares in children: parents' vs. children's ratings

Michael Schredl1, Leonie Fricke-Oerkermann, Alexander Mitschke

  • 1Sleep laboratory, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany. michael.schredl@zi-mannheim.de

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
|June 12, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Child Psychology

Background:

  • Daytime symptoms in school-aged children can be linked to sleep disturbances.
  • Nightmare frequency is a key indicator of sleep quality and emotional well-being in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between daytime symptomatology and nightmare frequency in school-aged children.
  • To compare parent and child reports on nightmare frequency and its correlation with daytime symptoms.

Main Methods:

  • A large sample of 4,834 parents and 4,531 children (aged 8-11 years) participated.
  • Participants completed sleep questionnaires and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
  • Data were collected directly from children and their parents.

Main Results:

  • Parents underestimated nightmare frequency compared to children's self-reports (d = 0.30).
  • The association between influencing factors and nightmare frequency was stronger using children's data.
  • The proportion of explained variance in nightmare frequency was twice as high when using children's reports.

Conclusions:

  • Directly querying children about nightmares is crucial for accurate assessment.
  • Relying solely on parental reports may lead to an underestimation of nightmare frequency.
  • Clinical practice and research should prioritize children's self-reports for evaluating nightmares.
Abstract

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