Child perception and parent’s perception about child sleep quality

INTRODUCTION: Sleep is a physiological necessity that interferes with the activity during the day. This study aimed to analyze child perception about sleep quality and compare it with parent’s perception about the quality of their children’s sleep, and to investigate the sleep quality of Portuguese schoolchildren. Analyze the differences between the sexes and the type of school attended. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study, quantitative methodology. The results of two questionnaires, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) answered directly by the children, and the children’s sleep habits questionnaire (CSHQ), answered by the parents of 883 children, were analyzed and compared. RESULTS: PSQI reveals good sleep quality, which contradicts the results of CSHQ. The CSHQ indicates a mean sleep deterioration index (IPS) value of 46.12 (above the cutoff point, 44) indicating that on average the children in this sample have poor sleep quality. There is no significant difference between girls and boys regarding IPS. There is a significant difference in the level of daytime drowsiness (p=.018), girls wake up moodier (p=.011), have more difficulty getting out of bed in the morning (p=.019), and take longer to fully awaken than boys (p=.004). CONCLUSION: The data show that children seem to have poor sleep quality and that they erroneously evaluate it, but these same data should be read with caution since the reason for the different perception between parents and children is not known.