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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
08:09

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

The relation between common sleep problems and emotional and behavioral problems among 2- and 3-year-olds in the

Graham J Reid1, Ryan Y Hong, Terrance J Wade

  • 1Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada. greid@uwo.ca

Journal of Sleep Research
|March 3, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Childhood sleep problems significantly contribute to emotional and behavioral issues, independent of other risk factors. These sleep disturbances are as impactful as a mother's depression on a child's psychopathology.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Sleep Medicine

Background:

  • Childhood emotional and behavioral problems are significant concerns.
  • Known risk factors for psychopathology include genetics, environment, and parenting.
  • The independent contribution of sleep problems requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the contribution of sleep problems to emotional and behavioral issues in young children.
  • To assess if this contribution is independent of other established risk factors.
  • To explore pathways linking risk factors, sleep problems, and child psychopathology.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Study of Child and Youth (n ≈ 3000 per cohort).
  • Inclusion of 2- and 3-year-old children representative of the Canadian population.
  • Data collection from the person most knowledgeable (PMK), typically the mother, on child, parent, and family factors.

Main Results:

  • Child sleep problems (night waking, bedtime resistance) independently predicted internalizing (anxiety) and externalizing (hyperactivity, aggression) problems.
  • Sleep problems were as strongly associated with child emotional/behavioral issues as PMK depressive symptomatology.
  • Adverse parenting, PMK symptomatology, and difficult temperament contributed to both sleep and emotional/behavioral problems.

Conclusions:

  • Childhood sleep problems are a significant, independent correlate of emotional and behavioral problems.
  • Sleep problems appear to exacerbate existing emotional and behavioral difficulties in young children.
  • Interventions addressing sleep may be crucial for mitigating child psychopathology.

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