Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026
Measuring Neural Mechanisms Underlying Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation During Naps in Early Childhood
Published on: October 2, 2019
A novel subjective sleep assessment tool for healthy elementary school children in Japan
Mizue Iwasaki1, Akiko Iemura, Tetsuji Oyama
1Japan Children's Study Group, Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan.
Insights
The Japan Children's Study Sleep Questionnaire (JCSSQ) is a valid tool for assessing children's sleep patterns on weekdays. However, its accuracy decreases for weekend sleep onset times compared to daily sleep logs.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Child Psychology
- Sleep Research Methodology
Background:
- Childhood sleep patterns significantly impact mental and physical well-being.
- Traditional 2-week sleep logs can be burdensome for parents.
- The Japan Children's Study Sleep Questionnaire (JCSSQ) was developed to simplify sleep data collection over 4 weeks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the validity and consistency of the JCSSQ compared to traditional daily sleep logs.
- To assess the reliability of the JCSSQ for capturing various sleep parameters in school-aged children.
Main Methods:
- A comparative study involving 105 school children (ages 6-12) in Fukuoka, Japan.
- Utilized two parent-administered tools: the JCSSQ and a 14-day daily sleep log.
- Extracted data on sleep onset, waking time, sleep duration, and nighttime awakenings.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found between JCSSQ and sleep log data for waking times on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
- A significant difference (P=0.03) was observed in sleep onset time data between the JCSSQ and sleep logs specifically for Saturdays.
- JCSSQ proved easy for parents to complete.
Conclusions:
- The JCSSQ is a valid and consistent tool for assessing weekday sleep patterns in children.
- JCSSQ data showed poor correlation with sleep log data for weekend sleep sampling (Saturdays and Sundays).
- Further refinement may be needed for JCSSQ's accuracy in capturing weekend sleep dynamics.
Background:
A child's sleep pattern is important in defining his or her mental and physical well-being. Although we have reported previously on the utility of collecting 2 weeks of daily sleep logs, this type of record keeping is often onerous for the parents. Therefore, we established a new questionnaire, called the Japan Children's Study Sleep Questionnaire (JCSSQ), which is used to collect sleep pattern data over 4 weeks, including weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
Methods:
Two parent-administered sleep assessment tools, the JCSSQ and a daily sleep log, were used to examine the sleeping patterns of 105 school children (58 boys and 47 girls; age range, 6-12 years) in Fukuoka, Japan. Parents were requested to record sleep logs for 14 days after the JCSSQ. Sleep/wake status was recorded on the sleep log, from which data on the parameters of "sleep onset time", "waking time", "sleep period", and "number of nights waking" were extracted.
Results:
There were no significant differences between the JCSSQ and the logs for waking time data collected on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. However, there was a significant difference (P = 0.03) between the JCSSQ and the sleep logs with respect to the sleep onset time data collected on Saturdays.
Conclusions:
The JCSSQ was easy to fill out, and the data collected using the JCSSQ on weekdays were both valid and generally consistent with those collected using sleep logs. However, for sampling on Saturdays and Sundays, the JCSSQ data did not correlate with the sleep log data.
Related Concept Videos
01:24Substance Use Disorders Affecting Sleep
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
01:15REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
RBD is significantly associated with...