Department of Kinesiology and Health, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2024;45(5):e463-e469. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001303. Epub 2024 Jul 10.
Short sleep and evening phase preference associate with impaired self-control, yet few studies have assessed the efficacy of sleep extension for improving this behavioral domain. Thus, this secondary analysis of a behavioral sleep intervention measured whether an intervention that enhanced children's sleep also affected self-control. Differences by chronotype were also explored.
Sixty-seven children (8-11 yr), who reportedly slept <9.5 hr/d, were randomized to either a control or sleep intervention condition (i.e., 4-session behavioral intervention to enhance sleep by 1-1.5 hr/night). Chronotype was assessed using the Child Chronotype Questionnaire at baseline, and self-control was assessed using the Self-Control Rating Scale (SCRS, a caregiver report) at baseline and 8 weeks postrandomization. Total sleep time (TST) was measured using wrist actigraphy for 1 week at both baseline and 8 weeks postrandomization. Partial correlations and mixed-model ANOVAs were used for statistical analyses, with age as a covariate.
At baseline, children with shorter TST (r = -0.29, p = 0.02) and an evening preference (r = 0.26, p = 0.049) were perceived as having lower self-control by their caregivers. Significant conditiontime interaction effects were found for TST ( p < 0.001) and SCRS score ( p = 0.046): From baseline to follow-up, children randomized to the sleep intervention exhibited a significant increase in TST and were perceived as having greater self-control by their caregiver; children randomized to the control condition exhibited no change in TST or in SCRS score. The conditionchronotype*time interaction effect was not significant.
A brief sleep intervention that enhanced TST also resulted in enhanced caregiver reported self-control in school-age children. Results add to the growing evidence for the importance of sleep health in children.
睡眠不足和傍晚时段偏好与自我控制能力受损有关，然而，很少有研究评估延长睡眠时间对改善这一行为领域的效果。因此，这项行为睡眠干预的二次分析测量了增强儿童睡眠是否也会影响自我控制。还探讨了按生物钟类型划分的差异。
67 名（8-11 岁）报告每晚睡眠时间<9.5 小时的儿童被随机分配到对照组或睡眠干预组（即 4 次行为干预，每晚增加 1-1.5 小时的睡眠时间）。在基线时使用儿童生物钟问卷评估生物钟类型，在基线和随机分组后 8 周使用自我控制评定量表（SCRS，家长报告）评估自我控制。在基线和随机分组后 8 周，使用腕部活动记录仪测量一周的总睡眠时间（TST）。使用偏相关和混合模型方差分析进行统计分析，以年龄为协变量。
在基线时，TST 较短（r = -0.29，p = 0.02）和傍晚时段偏好（r = 0.26，p = 0.049）的儿童被其家长认为自我控制能力较低。TST（p<0.001）和 SCRS 评分（p=0.046）均存在显著的条件时间交互效应：从基线到随访，随机分配到睡眠干预组的儿童 TST 显著增加，其家长认为他们的自我控制能力增强；随机分配到对照组的儿童 TST 和 SCRS 评分均无变化。条件生物钟类型*时间的交互效应不显著。
一项简短的睡眠干预措施，增加了 TST，也使儿童的自我控制能力增强，得到了家长的认可。研究结果增加了睡眠健康对儿童重要性的证据。
