Sleep duration in Italian children: Parental control on 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<0.0001); younger children sleep more than older ones on school nights (p<0.05), older children have a later bedtime on both school nights and weekends (p<0.01; p<0.05); children sharing a bedroom sleep more and go to bed earlier than children who do not share a room (p<0.05; p<0.05). 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.