Socioemotional behaviour of toddlers influenced by the sleep patterns: Prevalence study

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the influence of sleep duration and sleep patterns on the social-emotional behaviour of 3–70-month-old children. METHODS: A Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) and Ages, Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) were filled by the participants through a web link. The internal consistency of the items used in the questionnaire was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha and the effects of sleeping disorders on the likelihood of children having social-emotional problems were performed by binary logistic regressions. RESULTS: The highest level of bedtime resistance and nocturnal awakening was observed in children of 27–32 months of age, while sleep anxiety was maximum in 42–53-month-old children. The logistic regression models were found to be statistically significant with Χ(2) (3) =19.556 for 3–8-month-old children, Χ(2) (3) =11.874 for 9–14-month-old children, Χ(2) (3) =8.928 for 15–20-month-old children, Χ(2) (3) =10.061 for 21–26-month-old children and Χ(2) (3) =38.358 for 54–70-month-old children, P < 0.0005. CONCLUSION: Our findings imply that no statistically significant association was observed between sleep duration and social-emotional problems, however, sleep disorders significantly impacted social-emotional behaviour and also night-waking caused social-emotional behavioural issues in preschoolers.