Collaborative ECHO research led by Maxwell Mansolf, PhD and Courtney K. Blackwell, PhD, of Northwestern University investigates the potential link between poor sleep health of school-age children and stress experienced by their caregivers. This research, titled “Caregiver Perceived Stress and Child Sleep Health: An Item-Level Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis,” is published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies.
Up to 50% of children and adolescents in the United States might experience sleep problems, which is an issue because poor sleep can negatively impact brain development, learning, and physical and emotional well-being.
There have been prior studies suggesting a link between poor sleep in children and stress experienced by their caregivers, but those were mainly limited to infants and young children. This study involved school-age children and teens, specifically 2,641 children between the ages of 6 and 18 from 12 ECHO research sites.
Caregivers participating in the study completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to provide data about their personal stress levels. They also completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a parent-reported survey that provides information about a child’s well-being, including their sleep habits. Responses from the PSS and CBCL were compared and analyzed to evaluate how caregiver stress affected child sleep patterns, particularly by looking at CBCL responses that addressed children’s experiences with nightmares, insomnia, ongoing tiredness, and excessive and troubled sleep.
The study found that children whose caregivers reported increased perceived stress from their life circumstances may be at higher risk for sleep issues, reaffirming existing links between caregiver psychosocial state and child well-being. This association was consistent across different groups of child and caregiver pairs studied, even after accounting for mental and physical health conditions, highlighting the importance of screening for caregiver stress to create plans for children who may be at risk for sleep issues.
“This research suggests that children whose caregivers are under increased stress may be at particular risk for sleep issues, and screening for caregiver stress may represent a potential pathway for screening and intervention of child sleep issues,” said Dr. Mansolf. “This research also demonstrates the utility of cross-cohort harmonization, as responses from multiple versions of the Perceived Stress Scale were harmonized for use here.”
Future sleep interventions may consider a more global approach to improving child and adolescent sleep health. Continued research on the factors that influence family health and well-being may guide interventions that address the entire family and the dynamics of the family relationship.