Association between parenting style and sleep problems among school aged children with autism spectrum disorder / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the association between parenting style and sleep problems among school aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).@*Methods@#A total of 98 children with ASD aged 6-10 years old and 98 age and gender matched typically developing (TD) children from mainstream schools were recruited. Parenting style and sleep problems were measured via Parent Behavior Inventory (PBI) and Children s Sleep Habits Questionnaire(CSHQ), respectively. The symptom severity and intelligence level were also evaluated. Generalized linear model was used to analyze the relationship between parenting style and sleep problems.@*Results@#There was no statistically significant difference in the parenting style of the two groups of children( P > 0.05 ); weekend sleep time of children with ASD was significantly shorter than that of the TD group [(9.1±0.7)(9.5±0.8)h, P < 0.01 ], and the score of sleep onset delay was significantly higher than that of the TD group[(1.8±0.7)(1.5±0.7), P <0.01]. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of total sleep problems and various problems between the two groups of children( P >0.05). The parental support/engagement of children with ASD was negatively associated with the total score of sleep problems( β=-2.68, 95%CI =-4.88--0.47), bedtime resistance ( β=-1.65, 95%CI =-2.54--0.77) and sleep anxiety( β=-1.01, 95%CI =-1.70--0.32). The parental hostility/coercion was positively correlated with score of daytime sleepiness( β=1.41, 95%CI =0.53-2.29)( P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Parenting style of support/engagement is associated with lower sleep problems in children with ASD, while hostile/coercion is associated with higher sleep problems. It should be improve parental style to reduce the sleep problems in children with ASD.