Child and Adolescent Sleep Disturbances and Psychopathology in a Mental Health Clinic Sample
Abstract
Sleep disturbances in children and adolescents (hereafter children) are associated with significant short-term and long-term impairments including more severe psychopathology, reduced cognitive functioning, and poorer general health. We know that children being treated in specialty mental health services are more likely to have sleep disturbances than community samples. We also know that relationships exist between sleep and psychopathology in children with specific disorders (e.g. ADHD, depression, etc.). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between sleep and psychopathology in a broad sample of children seen at mental health agencies. Both child factors and family factors may influence both sleep and psychopathology. For example, family dysfunction and poor parenting practices have been associated with both increased sleep disturbances and psychopathology. This study aimed to examine individual child factors (e.g., age, sex, sensory sensitivity, pain) and family factors (e.g., family functioning, caregiver distress, lack of parenting strengths) along with sleep disturbances in relation to internalizing (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalizing (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity, conduct disorder) symptoms. The relationship between sleep and psychopathology may change as children move through developmental phases marked by structural and organizational changes in sleep-wake patterns and psychopathology prevalence. Thus, age was examined as moderator of the relationship between sleep and psychopathology.