Parental sleep quality and behavior problems of children with autism.
Iulia Mihaila, Sigan L Hartley
PMID 27899714WHAT IT FOUND
Across 14 days, mothers' and fathers' previous-night sleep quality did not predict next-day behavior problems in their child with autism.
Better sleep was associated with parents feeling more positive and less negative the next day.
Key findings
01Previous-night sleep quality did not predict parents' next-day rating of behavior problems by the child with ASD across the 14-day diary.
02Mothers whose average previous-night sleep quality was lower reported higher initial ratings of their child's behavior problems.
03Better previous-night sleep quality was associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect for both mothers and fathers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was largely White, non-Hispanic parents in the Midwestern United States, so the results may not apply to families from different cultural backgrounds. Only mother-father couples in a relationship of at least 3 years were studied, so single parents and other family structures are not represented. Sleep quality was measured with one question about the previous night, not an objective sleep measure. Child behavior problems were rated by parents, not by an independent measure, so the study cannot separate how parents perceived behavior problems from the child's actual behavior problems. The study was observational, so it cannot show that poor sleep caused higher behavior problem ratings, or that better sleep caused better mood.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest or funding declaration. The publication type lists NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving a parent's sleep will reduce their child's behavior problems. The study did not test sleep improvement, and day-to-day sleep quality did not predict next-day behavior problems.