School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
School of Education and Human Development, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
J Pediatr. 2022 Dec;251:178-186. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.07.018. Epub 2022 Aug 6.
To explore patterns in parent-reported child sleep health and to investigate connections between such patterns and school readiness for newly enrolled prekindergarten (PreK) attendees from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds.
In a secondary analysis from a larger multiple-cohort longitudinal observational study of prekindergartners in low-income families, parental reports of sleep health for 351 children (mean age, 52.8 ± 3.5 months) during the first month of PreK were analyzed. Children also had completed direct assessments measuring language, literacy, mathematics, and executive functioning, and teachers rated children's social-emotional-behavioral competencies and approaches to learning at PreK entry. We performed latent class analyses to identify patterns in sleep health and used regression models to examine concurrent associations between child sleep health patterns and school readiness competencies across 6 domains: language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, social-emotional-behavioral, and approaches to learning.
Two classes emerged reflecting more and less desirable patterns of sleep health. Children classified in the earlier, longer, consistent sleep health class (87% of children) experienced earlier bedtimes, longer night-time sleep durations, more consistent sleep routines, less caffeine consumption ≤3 hours before bedtime, and scored higher on a direct assessment of expressive vocabulary and on teacher-reported measures of social-emotional-behavioral competencies and learning approaches than their peers in the later, shorter, inconsistent sleep health class (13% of children).
Consistent sleep routines and more optimal sleep health may serve as a protective mechanism for the language development, social-emotional-behavioral regulation, and approaches to learning of PreK from racially and ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds. Clinician-parent discussions regarding optimal sleep health may provide key opportunities for targeted education that promotes school readiness skill development.
探索家长报告的儿童睡眠健康模式，并调查这些模式与新入读幼儿园（PreK）的来自不同种族和族裔、低收入背景的儿童入学准备之间的联系。
在一项针对低收入家庭的学前儿童多队列纵向观察研究的二次分析中，分析了 351 名儿童（平均年龄 52.8±3.5 个月）在 PreK 第一个月期间的睡眠健康状况。儿童还完成了直接评估，测量语言、读写、数学和执行功能，教师在 PreK 入学时评估儿童的社会情感行为能力和学习方法。我们进行潜在类别分析以确定睡眠健康模式，并使用回归模型检查 6 个领域（语言、读写、数学、执行功能、社会情感行为和学习方法）中儿童睡眠健康模式与入学准备能力的同期关联。
有两种模式反映了更理想和不太理想的睡眠健康模式。分类为早期、较长、一致睡眠健康模式的儿童（87%的儿童）比晚、较短、不一致睡眠健康模式的儿童（13%的儿童）更早睡觉、更长的夜间睡眠时间、更一致的睡眠习惯、睡前 3 小时内摄入较少的咖啡因，并且在直接评估表达词汇和教师报告的社会情感行为能力和学习方法方面的得分更高。
一致的睡眠习惯和更理想的睡眠健康状况可能是保护来自不同种族和族裔、低收入背景的 PreK 儿童语言发展、社会情感行为调节和学习方法的机制。临床医生与家长讨论最佳睡眠健康状况可能为促进入学准备技能发展的针对性教育提供关键机会。
