Associations Of Sleep Habits And Sleep Disorder-related Symptoms With Psychological Behavior Problems In Preschool Children

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation effects of preschool children’s sleep habits and sleep disorders-related symptoms with psychological and behavioral problems.MethodsA cluster random sampling of preschool children in multiple kindergartens in Anqing,Fuyang,and Lu’an in Anhui Province was carried out.Parents filled out the questionnaire following the principle of informed consent.The basic information was obtained using the self-made questionnaire "Preschool Children’s Health and Behavior Record Form".A self-compiled sleep questionnaire was used for the sleep status of preschool children.The questionnaire consists of two parts,one is a survey of sleep habits of preschool children,and the other is a survey of symptoms related to sleep disorders in preschool children.The psychological behavior rating scale used Clancy Autism Behavior Scale and Conners Parental Symptom Questionnaire.Chi-square test is used to compare the detection of sleep and behavior problems with various sociodemographic characteristics.Using a binary logistic regression model,we analyzed the factors affecting sleep and behavior problems in preschool children,and calculated odds ratio(OR)and 95% confidence interval(CI).All statistical tests are two-sided tests.ResultsA total of 26,718 preschool children were included in this study,of which 14,348 were boys(53.7%)and 12,370 were girls(46.3%).Among them,625 preschool children were tested positive for suspected autism,with a detection rate of 2.3%.No siesta habit is a risk factor for suspected autism.The longer you sleep,the greater the risk of suspected autism.Longer sleep duration,sleeping on your back and sleeping on your side are all protective factors for suspected autism.Different sleep disorder-related symptoms are risk factors for suspected solitary disease(P<0.001),and as the number of sleep symptoms increases,the risk of suspected autism increases.When the number of sleep symptoms reaches 7,the risk of disease is 13.01 times that of no sleep disorder symptoms.Longer time to sleep is a risk factor for various behavior problems(P<0.001).Among the preschool children in this survey,a total of 5,298 people had behavior problems detected,and the total detection rate was 19.8%.The detection rates of character problems,learning problems,psychosomatic problems,impulsive hyperactivity problems,anxiety problems,and hyperactivity problems were 3.2%,4.0%,2.6%,3.8%,2.8%,and 3.4%,respectively.Longer time to sleep is a risk factor for various behavior problems(P<0.001).Sleeping longer than 10 hours is a protective factor for conduct problems,learning problems,anxiety,and hyperactivity(P<0.05).Having a nap habit,sleeping on the back and sleeping on the side were protective factors for each behavioral problem(P<0.05).Different sleep disorder-related symptoms are risk factors for each behavior problem(P<0.001),and as the number of sleep symptoms increases,the risk of behavior problems increases.ConclusionThis study proves that there is an association between sleep problems and preschool children’s psychological and behavioral problems,and it has also found multiple factors that affect sleep problems and behavioral problems.In the future,we should prevent sleep problems and behavioral problems from the above factors,and remind parents and kindergartens to pay attention to the sleep habits and sleep disorders of preschool children,cultivate children to develop good sleep habits,and reduce sleep disorders.Incidence rate,create a good sleep environment to reduce the occurrence of behavioral problems.