Factors affecting nightmares in children: parents' vs. children's ratings.

OBJECTIVE

The present study investigated the relationship between daytime symptomatology and nightmare frequency in school-aged children by eliciting daytime symptoms and nightmare frequency from children directly in addition to questionnaires completed by their parents.

METHODS

A sample of 4,834 parents and 4,531 of their children (age range: 8-11 years) completed each a sleep questionnaire and the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ).

RESULTS

The results of the study clearly indicate that there is an underestimation of nightmare frequency in the parents' ratings compared to the children's data (effect size: d = 0.30) and the closeness between influencing factors and nightmare frequency is considerably higher for the data based on the children's responses; the proportion of explained variance was twice as high.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, it seems important for research and clinical practice to not to rely on parents' information but to ask the children about the occurrence of nightmares.