Original ArticleWhat keeps low-SES children from sleeping well: the role of presleep worries and sleep environment

- Low-socioeconomic status (SES) children tend to have shorter sleep duration and more subjectively reported sleep problems.
- The reasons for this association are unclear.
- Presleep worries were found to account for some portion of the association.
- Some conditions of the physical sleep environment were also found to be intervening variables in the association.

ObjectivesChildren in families of low socioeconomic status (SES) have been found to have poor sleep, yet the reasons for this finding are unclear. Two possible mediators, presleep worries and home environment conditions, were investigated as indirect pathways between SES and children's sleep.Participants/MethodsThe participants consisted of 271 children (M (age) = 11.33 years; standard deviation (SD) = 7.74 months) from families varying in SES as indexed by the income-to-needs ratio. Sleep was assessed with actigraphy (sleep minutes, night waking duration, and variability in sleep schedule) and child self-reported sleep/wake problems (eg, oversleeping and trouble falling asleep) and sleepiness (eg, sleeping in class and falling asleep while doing homework). Presleep worries and home environment conditions were assessed with questionnaires.ResultsLower SES was associated with more subjective sleep/wake problems and daytime sleepiness, and increased exposure to disruptive sleep conditions and greater presleep worries were mediators of these associations. In addition, environmental conditions served as an intervening variable linking SES to variability in an actigraphy-derived sleep schedule, and, similarly, presleep worry was an intervening variable linking SES to actigraphy-based night waking duration. Across sleep parameters, the model explained 5-29% of variance.ConclusionsSleep environment and psychological factors are associated with socioeconomic disparities, which affect children's sleep.