Child and Parent Perceived Determinants of Children’s Inadequate Sleep Health. A Concept Mapping Study

• Main Authors: Laura S. Belmon, Vincent Busch, Maartje M. van Stralen, Dominique P.M. Stijnman, Lisan M. Hidding, Irene A. Harmsen, Mai J.M. Chinapaw
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: sleep; childhood; children; determinants; factors; concept mapping
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1583

Many children do not meet the recommendations for healthy sleep, which is concerning given the potential negative effects on children&#8217;s health. To promote healthy sleep, it is crucial to understand its determinants. This concept mapping study therefore explores perspectives of children and parents on potential determinants of children&#8217;s inadequate sleep. The focus lies on 9&#8722;12 year old children (<i>n</i> = 45), and their parents (<i>n</i> = 33), from low socioeconomic neighbourhoods, as these children run a higher risk of living in a sleep-disturbing environment (e.g., worries, noise). All participants generated potential reasons (i.e., ideas) for children&#8217;s inadequate sleep. Next, participants sorted all ideas by relatedness and rated their importance. Subsequently, multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses were performed to create clusters of ideas for children and parents separately. Children and parents both identified psychological (i.e., fear, affective state, stressful situation), social environmental (i.e., sleep schedule, family sleep habits), behavioural (i.e., screen behaviour, physical activity, diet), physical environmental (i.e., sleep environment such as temperature, noise, light), and physiological (i.e., physical well-being) determinants. These insights may be valuable for the development of future healthy sleep interventions.