Sleep and psycho-behavioral problems in internally displaced children in Georgia

The aim of this study was to examine sleep and psycho-behavioral variables in Georgian Internally Displaced (ID) Children and their population-based controls.

One hundred and sixty one children (10.85 ± 0.9) from ID families escaped from Shida Kartli, Georgia, and 161 non-ID children (10.94 ± 0.9) were studied after seven years of displacement. Children completed the Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Child Trauma Screening Questionnaire (CTSQ). In addition, we assessed the children's appraisal of the family environment. Moreover, parents reported socio-demographic information, their children's academic excellence, and completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).

Compared with the control group, ID children had a lower level of academic excellence and family environment (p < 0.01) as well as higher scores in all SDSC dimensions with the significant difference for breathing (p < 0.001), hyperhidrosis and SDSC total scores (p < 0.05). Cognitive pre-sleep arousal was significantly higher in non-IDs (p < 0.01), while there was no difference between groups in somatic pre-sleep arousal level. All BPAQ component and total scores were higher in IDs than in non-IDs but the difference was significant only in Physical Aggression (p < 0.01). Mean scores for BDI and PSS were significantly higher in ID than non-ID parents (p < 0.001). Both cognitive and somatic pre-sleep arousal predicted SDSC total score in non-IDs (p < 0.01) while cognitive but not somatic arousal was significant predictor in IDs (p < 0.01).

Sleep and psycho-behavioral problems are noticeable even in those ID children who were very young at the time of displacement. Psycho-social environment in which children are growing up warrants major consideration in ID population.