Poster #106 - Sleep of Adolescent Parents and Their Children: A Descriptive Study

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Sleep is a public health concern, with certain populations such as adolescents (Owens et al., 2014) and new parents (Meltzer & Westin, 2011), being at a greater risk for insufficient sleep. Given the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. (KidsCount, 2018), this project aims to describe the sleep of adolescent parents and their children. Adolescents (17- to 25-years-old) who were pregnant or had a child were recruited for participation through school systems, WIC programs, and flyers posted throughout two communities in which a 20-week parent education program was being offered. To date, adolescent mothers (n = 76) and fathers (n = 17) from low-income households completed pre-program surveys; data collection is ongoing. The racial breakdown of the sample was 91% Native American, 6% African American, and 3% European American. The parent sample reported having 77 children (2-weeks-old to 6-years-old). Adolescents completed a sleep diary via phone for seven consecutive nights regarding their own sleep schedule, amount, onset, and quality. Parents reported on their child’s typical bedtime and wake time. Child sleep difficulties were assessed via the BEARS Sleep Screening Tool (Owens & Daizell, 2005), a five-item survey that assesses bedtime issues, excessive daytime sleepiness, night awakenings, regularity and duration of sleep, and snoring of children 2- to 12- years-old. Parents were asked to respond with a “yes” to each of the prompts in which they believed described the sleep or sleep-related problems of their child. Sleep diary data indicated that adolescents’ average bedtime was 11:20 PM (SD = 2.3 hours) and wake time was 7:00 AM (SD = 1.4 hours); 7.66 hours per night. Adolescents rated their sleep as “good”. Data for 28 children (2 years+) were available and indicate a child mean bedtime of 8:45 PM (SD = .61 hour) and wake time of 7:45 PM (SD = 1.16 hours); 12 hours/night. Parents did not report children to have any problems going to bed, falling asleep, waking during the night, or experiencing daytime sleepiness. All parents reported that their children had regular sleep-wake times, and the majority indicated that their child took naps during the day (83.3%). Results suggest that adolescent parents get well below the recommended amount of sleep per night, even though they rate their sleep quality as “good". The subjective child sleep data suggest that children are obtaining the recommended amount of sleep. None of the adolescents reported sleep difficulties for their children. These preliminary analyses raise a number of questions regarding the subjective sleep assessment with this population such as the following: (1) Do teenage parents recognize behaviors associated with child sleepiness?, (2) How do teenage parents define a “regular” sleep routine?, (3) Are parents sleeping through child night wakings?, (4) What does a bedtime routine within these homes look like? Further studies are needed with this population.

Authors

• Laura Downey, Mississippi State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lori Staton, Mississippi State University
  Presenting Author

• Donna Peterson, Mississippi State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joy Rodriguez, Mississippi State University
  Non-Presenting Author