Associations Between Child Sleep Problems and Maternal Mental Health in Children with ADHD

ABSTRACT

Objective/Background: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience more sleep problems than typically developing children. In addition, higher rates of depression are experienced by mothers of children with ADHD compared to mothers of children without ADHD. This study aimed to determine whether particular sleep problems in children with ADHD are associated with specific maternal mental health difficulties.

Participants: Female caregivers of 379 children with ADHD (5–13 years) participated. The child’s ADHD diagnosis was reconfirmed during recruitment by caregivers completing the ADHD Rating Scale-IV.

Method: Caregivers reported on their mental health using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and their child’s sleep using the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Unadjusted and adjusted regression analyzes were undertaken.

Results: In the adjusted analyzes, there were small significant associations between most aspects of child sleep (i.e. Bedtime Resistance, Night Waking, Parasomnias, Sleep Duration, Daytime Sleepiness and Total Sleep Problems) and maternal Anxiety and Stress, with the exception of Sleep-Onset Delay. Bedtime Resistance, Sleep Duration, Daytime Sleepiness and Total Sleep Problems also had small significant associations with maternal Depression. Sleep Anxiety had a small significant association with maternal Anxiety only.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates important connections between many child sleep problems and particular aspects of maternal mental health, suggesting adaptations to behavioral sleep interventions for children and mental health interventions for parents to take a family approach may be beneficial. Future research should consider the longitudinal associations between child sleep and parent mental health in an effort to inform future intervention approaches.

Acknowledgements

The data used in this study was collected by research teams at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program.

Declarations of interest

Professor Nicole Rinehart and Dr Nicole Papadopoulos receive funding from the Ferrero Group Australia as part of its Kinder + Sport pillar of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to promote active lifestyles among young people. Professor Nicole Rinehart also currently receives funding from the Moose Foundation, Victorian Department of Education and Training, MECCA Brands, Wenig Family, Geelong Community Foundation and the Grace & Emilio Foundation to conduct research in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders and inclusion. Professor Nicole Rinehart has previously received donations from Vic Health and Bus Association Victoria; previous speaker honorarium from Novartis (2002), Pfizer (2006) and Nutricia (2007); and is a Director of the Amaze Board (Autism Victoria). None of the companies or organizational bodies listed above had a role in this research including the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in writing of the manuscript; and/or in the decision to submit the article for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Associate Professor Emma Sciberras is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Award (1110688) and a veski Inspiring Women’s Fellowship. Christina A. Martin is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (0000019042).].