Sleep duration in Italian children: Parental control of bedtime as explaining factor.

Objective. This study assessed the relationship among sleep habits and sleep-wake quality of Italian school-aged children and specific environmental factors (co-sleeping, weekly workload, parental control on bedtime). We also collected data about the awareness of the importance of sleep in school-aged children, as well as how often children have the opportunity to talk about sleep habits with their parents. Method. The Life Rhythms and Sleep Habits questionnaire was administered to 776 school aged children. Results.Results indicated that, except Sleep Latency, all sleep indexes considered change from school nights to weekends, when time devoted to sleep increases (p<.0001); younger children sleep more than older ones on school nights (p<.05), older children have a later bedtime on both school nights and weekends (p<.01; p<.05); children sharing a bedroom sleep more and go to bed earlier than children who do not share a room (p<.05; p<.05). The 53.7% of children assessed sleep as very important, but the 47.8% of them reported to never, or seldom, talk about sleep habits with their parents. Log-linear analyses were applied to assess the relations among weekly workload, parental control of bedtime, bedtime and sleep-wake quality variables. Children with a more structured time schedule (greater parental control at bedtime, earlier bedtime, higher weekly workload) reported a better sleep quality (lower sleep onset latency, no nocturnal awakenings), although they reported more diurnal sleepiness. Conclusions. The short sleep duration of Italian school-aged children is largely explained by parent-style, parents leave to much autonomy to their children in deciding when go to bed.