Relationship between sleep time preference of adolescents and their parents

This study aimed to explore the relationship between sleep time preference of adolescents and their parents, considering gender separately. To this end, 912 adolescents (501 females) from 10 to 17 years were administered the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents and their parents filled in the Morningness– Eveningness Questionnaire. To assess sleep time preference, the ideal midpoint of sleep was computed. A mathematical function was developed in order to correct the evolution of the ideal midpoint of sleep over time. The actual values were adjusted on the basis of those provided by the function for a specific age and gender and then reclassified into a new ordinal variable, with five categories, according to the interval where difference between actual and predicted values lies. This variable is informative as to the degree and magnitude of the ideal midpoint of sleep dispersion regarding/compared to the average value for a certain age and sex, represented by estimated function. The correlations between actual values of the ideal midpoint of sleep of adolescents and actual values of their parents, separately for gender of both, were not significant. The “corrected” ideal midpoint of sleep of daughters resulted significantly correlated with those “corrected” of mothers and fathers; furthermore, these correlation values were significantly higher than those detected between daughters and unrelated parents, highlighting the fact that such a privileged relationship between daughters and both parents is not due to chance.