Linking Kindergartners' Bedtime and Sleep to Chronic Absenteeism

• In Event: Early Childhood Social-Emotional Issues

Abstract

Among the various studies highlighting the roles of general health and home health factors on student attendance, no studies have tested any association between a child’s bedtime and his/her attendance. Considering the established relationship between sleep and health outcomes for children and given that child health has been linked to absenteeism, this is certainly an underexplored yet potentially important factor.
There are two reasons why bedtime that might link to absenteeism: bedtime regularity and the hour of bedtime for children. Therefore, we asked the following research questions:
1. Does having a regular bedtime link to better attendance outcomes for kindergarteners?
2. Does the hour of bedtime link to better attendance outcomes for kindergarteners?

Authors

• Michael A. Gottfried, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Jon Jacob Kirksey, University of California - Santa Barbara