Skip Navigation



Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on February 4, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn005
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
33/4/380    most recent
jsn005v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Meltzer, L. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Meltzer, L. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Brief Report: Sleep in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Lisa J. Meltzer, PhD

Department of Pediatrics and Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lisa J. Meltzer, PhD, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3535 Market Street, 14th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. E-mail: meltzerl{at}email.chop.edu


  Abstract

Objective To examine sleep quality and sleep–wake patterns in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and parents of typically developing (TD) children. Methods Thirty-five mothers and 22 fathers completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a 7-day sleep diary, and wore an actigraph for 1 week. Results Parents of children with ASDs reported poorer sleep quality compared to the TD group. In addition, parents of children with ASDs had objectively different sleep patterns, with an earlier wake time and shorter total sleep time than parents of TD children. Finally, regardless of group, fathers had significantly shorter sleep time compared to mothers. Conclusions This study is one of the first to demonstrate poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep quantity in parents of children with ASDs using validated measures of sleep. Future studies should examine the relationship between chronic sleep loss and stress in parents of children with ASDs.

Key words: autism; children; fathers; mothers; sleep.

Received May 2, 2007; revision received January 9, 2008; accepted January 10, 2008


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Pediatr PsycholHome page
S. Gallagher, A. C. Phillips, and D. Carroll
Parental stress is associated with poor sleep quality in parents caring for children with developmental disabilities
J. Pediatr. Psychol., October 29, 2009; (2009) jsp093v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.