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Exploring socioeconomic differences in bedtime behaviours and sleep duration in English preschool children

Jones, Caroline H.D.; Ball, Helen L.

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Authors

Caroline H.D. Jones



Abstract

Children's sleep is critical for optimal health and development; yet sleep duration has decreased in recent decades, and many children do not have adequate sleep. Certain sleep behaviours (‘sleep hygiene’) are commonly recommended, and there is some evidence that they are associated with longer nighttime sleep. Parents of 84 British 3-year-old children were interviewed about their children's sleep and completed five-night/four-day sleep diaries documenting their children's sleep, from which daily sleep duration was estimated. Diaries were validated by actigraphy in a subgroup of children. Sleep hygiene behaviours (regular bedtime, reading at bedtime, falling asleep in bed) were associated with each other, and were more common in the high socioeconomic status compared to the low socioeconomic status group. Parents' reasons for not practicing sleep hygiene included difficulty, inability or inconvenience. Sleep hygiene behaviours were associated with significantly longer child sleep at night but not over 24 h. Longer daytime napping compensated for shorter nighttime sleep in children whose parents did not implement sleep hygiene behaviours. Parents may need to be advised that certain behaviours are associated with longer nighttime sleep and given practical advice on how to implement these behaviours.

Citation

Jones, C. H., & Ball, H. L. (2014). Exploring socioeconomic differences in bedtime behaviours and sleep duration in English preschool children. Infant and Child Development, 23(5), 518-531. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.1848

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 19, 2014
Online Publication Date Feb 19, 2014
Publication Date Oct 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jan 31, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Infant and Child Development
Print ISSN 1522-7227
Electronic ISSN 1522-7219
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 23
Issue 5
Pages 518-531
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.1848
Keywords Sleep, Preschool children, Sleep hygiene, England, Mixed methods, Anthropology.

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Published Journal Article (Advance online version) (129 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2014 The Authors. Infant and Child Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.






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