Children talking about their sleep: a cross-sectional survey of differences by ethnicity and socioeconomic status in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study examined differences by ethnicity and socioeconomic status in attitudes to sleep and bedtime routine, as self-reported by children aged 7-9 years. METHODS: Four groups of parent-child dyads were recruited: Maori participants from low- (n = 18) and high- (n = 17) decile schools and New Zealand European participants from low- (n = 18) and high- (n = 17) decile schools. Children completed a questionnaire about their sleep, a self-report of anxiety symptoms, and a semistructured interview. RESULTS: Most (77%) children reported liking to go to sleep (Maori, 88% vs New Zealand European, 65%; P = .053) and 28% reported trouble sleeping. Maori children were less likely to report fear of the dark and fighting about going to bed. Liking going to sleep was associated with less fear of the dark and of sleeping alone. Children from low-decile schools more often reported waking with pain and feeling sleepy (P = .022) and taking naps (P = .018) during the day. They also had more symptoms of anxiety. New Zealand European children more frequently reported using "screen time" (P = .02) or "reading a book" (P = .05). Children attending high-decile schools were more likely to read at bedtime (P = .01), whereas children attending low-decile schools were more likely to have "play time" (P = .02). Children were able to articulate what was a good night and bad night sleep. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that more adverse differences in sleep habits and attitudes in children are most likely to be related to socioeconomic status than to ethnicity. CITATION: Elder D, Miller J, Douglas B, Stanley J, McDowall P, Campbell A. Children talking about their sleep: a cross-sectional survey of differences by ethnicity and socioeconomic status in Aotearoa New Zealand primary schools. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(1):119-133.

Describing patterns of early literacy skill development in the first year of school and reading instruction in a New Zealand sample.

This study describes trajectories of early literacy skill development of 99 children (n = 55 boys) in their first year of primary school in New Zealand (NZ). Children were assessed twice weekly for 8 weeks on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2011) First Sound Fluency (FSF) and AIMSweb Letter Sound Fluency (LSF; Shinn & Shinn, 2002), with other early literacy and beginning reading skills assessed before and after progress monitoring. FSF and LSF growth trajectories were modeled separately. Multilevel modeling indicated improved performance; however, growth mixture modeling indicated 3 growth trajectories (i.e., latent classes; FSF and LSF, respectively): typical (77.6% of children, 65.7%), developing (10.8%, 14.6%), and limited progress (11.6%, 19.7%). Beginning of year screening was sometimes associated with latent class membership, whereas latent class membership differentiated mid- and year-end literacy skills. Results support progress monitoring of early literacy skills within the NZ context to aid earlier identification of children at-risk for difficulties with reading acquisition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Sleep in New Zealand children aged 7-9: associations with ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and achievement in reading and mathematics.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The aims were (1) to investigate differences by ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) in objective measures of sleep in children aged 7-9 years and (2) determine whether measures of sleep predict child achievement in reading or mathematics after controlling for ethnicity and SES. METHODS: Four groups of parent-child dyads were recruited: Maori, low-SES schools (n = 18); Maori, high-SES schools (n = 17); New Zealand European, low-SES schools (n = 18); New Zealand European, high-SES schools (n = 17). Child sleep was measured by actigraphy. Parents and teachers reported child daytime sleepiness and behavior, and children completed a self-report of anxiety symptoms. Teachers also reported on child achievement in reading and mathematics. RESULTS: Children from low-SES schools went to bed later on school nights (F[1,68] = 12.150, P = .001) and woke later (F[1,68] = 15.978, P < .001) than children from high-SES schools but had similar sleep duration. There were no differences related to ethnicity. Children from low-SES schools were almost 3 times more likely to be below national standards for mathematics. Children not meeting academic standards in mathematics had a later sleep start time, lower sleep period efficiency, and a decreased total sleep time. However, when SES and sleep period efficiency were modeled together neither were found to significantly influence achievement in mathematics. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, SES influenced sleep timing but not the quality and quantity of sleep in 7- to 9-year-old children, and a significant independent effect of sleep efficiency on learning could not be demonstrated.

Parent involvement in beginning primary school: Correlates and changes in involvement across the first two years of school in a New Zealand sample.

This study described the relations of parents' and teachers' beliefs and attitudes to forms of parents' involvement in children's first two years of primary school. Parents of children in their first year of primary school (age 5) were recruited from 12 classrooms within four schools in New Zealand; 196 families participated in their child's first year, and 124 families continued to participate in their child's second school year. Parents completed the Family-Involvement Questionnaire, New Zealand, and we archivally collected parent-documented children's oral reading homework. Teachers' rated helpfulness of parents' involvement at school (level 2) and parents' rated teacher invitations to be involved and their perceived time and energy (level 1) contributed to school-based involvement in Year 1 in multilevel models, with parents' rated teacher invitations for involvement also found to predict Year 1 home-school communication in regression analyses. Contributors to Year 1 child-parent reading in multilevel models included level 1 predictors of two or more adults in the home and parents' perceived time and energy. Longitudinal analyses suggested both consistency and change in each form of involvement from Year 1 to Year 2, with increases in each form of involvement found to be associated with increases in parents' and/or teachers' views about involvement in Year 2 in cross-sectional time-series analyses. Implications for schools wanting to engage families are that parents' involvement in children's schooling may be influenced by parents' perceptions of their capacity, teachers' engagement efforts, and the school's climate for involvement. This is a special issue paper "Family Engagement in Education and Intervention".

Relationship between parent knowledge of child sleep, and child sleep practices and problems: A pilot study in a children's hospital cohort.

AIM: To describe parent reports of sleep practices, and examine associations with parent knowledge of child sleep, and whether children's sleep practices differ between parents who underestimated, overestimated or accurately estimated children's sleep needs. METHODS: Parents of children aged 2-12 years (n = 115) attending hospital inpatient or day wards were approached and asked to report child sleep routines, sleep problems, parent education, household income and parent knowledge of child sleep via questionnaire. RESULTS: Younger age was associated with earlier bedtimes and wake times, shorter sleep latencies, longer sleep durations and greater sleep problems (P < 0.05). Parents from higher income homes reported earlier bedtimes and wake times, shorter sleep latencies and fewer sleep problems (P < 0.05). Parents with higher education reported shorter sleep latencies (P < 0.05). Parents with greater knowledge about child sleep reported earlier weekday and weekend bedtimes (r s ≥ 0.26) and wake times (r s ≥ 0.21) and greater consistency between their child's weekend and weekday sleep routines (P < 0.05). In comparison with parents who correctly estimated their child's sleep needs: parents who underestimated reported later weekday bedtimes (on average, 46 min), and longer sleep latencies (17 min); parents who overestimated reported longer sleep latencies (22 min). These findings remained significant when controlling for child age (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Parents with increased sleep knowledge, higher incomes and higher levels of education were more likely to report earlier bedtimes, wake times and more consistent sleep routines for their children.

Parent knowledge of children's sleep: A systematic review.

We completed a systematic review of literature related to parent knowledge of children's sleep, to determine how much parents know about typical child sleep and symptoms related to sleep problems in childhood and how parent knowledge has been assessed. We also examined whether relationships have been reported between parent knowledge of children's sleep, parent education, child sleep problems, sleep duration, and sleep hygiene. An extensive literature search of five electronic databases was conducted, and of 615 articles identified, eight met inclusion criteria for review: four descriptive studies and four educational interventions. These studies varied considerably in the number of items included in scales, the specific content measured, the response scales used, and the populations included, limiting the conclusions that could be drawn across studies. In general, parent knowledge of child sleep was poor. Greater accuracy was reported for items pertaining to healthy sleep practices at sleep onset and daytime symptoms, in comparison with items pertaining to child sleep problems during the night. More knowledgeable parents were more likely to report that their children exhibited healthy sleep practices; associations with sleep duration were mixed. Small interventions demonstrated an increase in parental knowledge in the short-term, but effects were not maintained at follow-up. Future work is needed to clarify relations between parental knowledge and child sleep, and to design and evaluate effective methods of promoting education about child sleep in a range of parent populations. The further development of validated tools to assess parent knowledge of child sleep will be required to underpin this work.

Parent knowledge of child sleep: a pilot study in a children's hospital cohort.

OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND: Parent knowledge about child sleep may influence parent efforts to support healthy sleep in their children. The present study aimed to describe parent knowledge of child sleep in a hospital cohort and potential correlates including barriers to children's bedtime, information seeking about child sleep, and demographics such as child age, parent education, and household income. METHODS: In total, 115 parents of children aged 2-12 years attending hospital inpatient wards or day ward were approached individually and invited to complete the questionnaire. Questionnaire items were modified measures in published articles, identified through literature review, or developed from clinical experience. RESULTS: Parents on average answered half of the knowledge questions accurately, and knowledge about child sleep was positively correlated with education and household income. Parents who sought information from books or the Internet had greater knowledge about child sleep than parents who did not endorse these sources of information. The accuracy of parent estimations of their child's sleep requirements varied: 55% were within recommendations, while 26% underestimated their child's sleep requirements, 19% overestimated. Parents who correctly estimated their child's sleep requirements had higher education and income on average and were more likely to parent younger children (age 2-5 years). Parents who overestimated or underestimated sleep requirements were more likely to identify greater barriers to their child's bedtime. CONCLUSION: Overall knowledge of child sleep in this sample was poor, consistent with samples from North American communities. Future studies should examine whether knowledge about child sleep and barriers to children's bedtimes are related to actual child sleep behaviors or parent practices to support their children to achieve a healthy sleep.

Sleep Disordered Breathing and Academic Performance: A Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in children is associated with daytime functioning decrements in cognitive performance and behavioral regulation. Studies addressing academic achievement are underrepresented. This study aimed to evaluate the strength of the relationships between SDB and achievement in core domains and general school performance. METHODS: Data sources included PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Studies of school-aged children investigating the relationships between SDB and academic achievement were selected for inclusion in a systematic literature review using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data extracted were converted into standardized mean differences; effect sizes (ES) and statistics were calculated by using random-effects models. Heterogeneity tests (I(2)) were conducted. RESULTS: Of 488 studies, 16 met eligibility criteria. SDB was significantly associated with poorer academic performance for core academic domains related to language arts (ES -0.31; P < .001; I(2) = 74%), math (ES -0.33; P < .001; I(2) = 55%), and science (ES -0.29; P = .001; I(2) = 0%), and with unsatisfactory progress/learning problems (ES -0.23; P < .001; I(2) = 0%) but not general school performance. CONCLUSIONS: Variable definitions of both academic performance and SDB likely contributed to the heterogeneity among published investigations. Clear links between SDB and poorer academic performance in school-age children are demonstrated. ES statistics were in the small to medium range, but nevertheless the findings serve to highlight to parents, teachers, and clinicians that SDB in children may contribute to academic difficulties some children face.