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Sleep Patterns and School Readiness of Pre-Kindergarteners from Racially and Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income
Khara L P Turnbull1, Deiby Mayaris Cubides Mateus1, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch1
1School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Insights
Consistent sleep patterns in young children are linked to better school readiness. Optimal sleep health supports language, social-emotional skills, and learning approaches for preschoolers from diverse, low-income backgrounds.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Sleep Science
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Parent-reported child sleep health patterns were examined in diverse, low-income prekindergarten (PreK) attendees.
- Understanding sleep's role in school readiness is crucial for early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify distinct patterns of child sleep health based on parental reports.
- To investigate the association between identified sleep patterns and various school readiness domains.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of a longitudinal observational study involving 351 PreK children.
- Latent class analysis to determine sleep health patterns; regression models for associations with school readiness.
- School readiness assessed via direct child assessments (language, literacy, math, executive function) and teacher ratings (social-emotional, learning approaches).
Main Results:
- Two sleep health patterns emerged: a more desirable (earlier, longer, consistent sleep) and a less desirable (later, shorter, inconsistent sleep) class.
- Children in the more desirable sleep class (87%) showed higher scores in expressive vocabulary, social-emotional competencies, and learning approaches.
- Fewer children (13%) were in the less desirable sleep class, indicating potential sleep-related challenges.
Conclusions:
- Consistent and optimal sleep health appears to be a protective factor for language development, social-emotional regulation, and learning approaches in at-risk preschoolers.
- Targeted discussions between clinicians and parents about sleep health can enhance school readiness skills.
- Findings highlight the importance of sleep hygiene for early academic and social success.
Objective:
To explore patterns in parent-reported child sleep health and to investigate connections between such patterns and school readiness for newly enrolled prekindergarten (PreK) attendees from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds.
Study Design:
In a secondary analysis from a larger multiple-cohort longitudinal observational study of prekindergartners in low-income families, parental reports of sleep health for 351 children (mean age, 52.8 ± 3.5 months) during the first month of PreK were analyzed. Children also had completed direct assessments measuring language, literacy, mathematics, and executive functioning, and teachers rated children's social-emotional-behavioral competencies and approaches to learning at PreK entry. We performed latent class analyses to identify patterns in sleep health and used regression models to examine concurrent associations between child sleep health patterns and school readiness competencies across 6 domains: language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, social-emotional-behavioral, and approaches to learning.
Results:
Two classes emerged reflecting more and less desirable patterns of sleep health. Children classified in the earlier, longer, consistent sleep health class (87% of children) experienced earlier bedtimes, longer night-time sleep durations, more consistent sleep routines, less caffeine consumption ≤3 hours before bedtime, and scored higher on a direct assessment of expressive vocabulary and on teacher-reported measures of social-emotional-behavioral competencies and learning approaches than their peers in the later, shorter, inconsistent sleep health class (13% of children).
Conclusions:
Consistent sleep routines and more optimal sleep health may serve as a protective mechanism for the language development, social-emotional-behavioral regulation, and approaches to learning of PreK from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds. Clinician-parent discussions regarding optimal sleep health may provide key opportunities for targeted education that promotes school readiness skill development.
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