Correlates of Multidimensional Sleep Profiles of Young Children

Despite sleep's multidimensional nature, previous research has focused on correlates of individual sleep dimensions. This study aimed to characterise young children's nighttime sleep profiles based on duration, timing, latency and quality, and to examine potential correlates. Parents of 320 children aged 1-5 years across Canada completed an online questionnaire on children's nighttime sleep (duration, timing, latency, quality) and potential correlates, including child demographics and behaviours, parental demographics, bedtime routine frequency, parent-child sleep interaction (preschoolers aged 3-5 years only), parental stress and sleep environment. Latent profile analysis classified sleep profiles using age-adjusted sleep dimensions. T-tests and logistic regressions were performed, weighted for classification probabilities. For results, two profiles emerged: Sleepy Koalas (59%) and Restless Racoons (41%), with the Restless Racoons having significantly shorter sleep duration, later sleep patterns, longer sleep onset latency and poorer sleep quality compared to the Sleepy Koalas. Children from households with income above $100,000 were twice as likely to belong to the Sleepy Koalas group (OR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.35), compared to those from lower-income households. In preschoolers, when parent-child sleep interactions were added to the model, each one-unit increase in problematic interactions was associated with 21% lower likelihood of Sleepy Koalas membership (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.72, 0.86), with differences across the interquartile range corresponding to up to a 95% reduction in odds. In conclusion, there may be sleep health disparities in young children across household income groups. Fostering high-quality parent-child sleep interactions may be important for promoting healthier sleep profiles in preschoolers.