Association between parents’ supervision and the sleep habits of children: the impact of educational background of families in balanced sleep and wakefulness

ABSTRACT

Daytime sleepiness affects the children’ performance and well-being during school days. This assumption must take into account parental supervision as to the content viewed and the periods of children’s exposure to screens in the period before bedtime. The study hypothesis was based on the following: characterization of the sleep quality of 51 children in the 1^st cycle of schooling using the Children´s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-PT) and collection of data on their habits regarding video games in the immediate period before going to sleep, as well as data on the opinion of parents about exposing their children to screens before and even in their sleep. The parents were divided into two groups established according to educational qualifications: those with the 12th grade and those with higher education qualifications. This enabled analysing whether family groups, depending on their qualifications, differed in terms of permission for/supervision of the use of video games and in terms of their children’s daytime sleepiness. The values obtained show lack of balanced sleep and wakefulness in school-age children. The identified cause is the prolonged use of video games immediately before going to bed, including on school days. Significantly, it was found that parental supervision is not satisfactory and depends on parents’ qualifications (socio-economic background), as children from families with lower qualifications spend higher average time playing video games and experience more daytime sleepiness.

KEYWORDS:

• Daytime sleepiness
• use of video games
• exposure to screens
• parental supervision
• educational qualifications

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Highlights section

· Lack of balanced sleep and wakefulness in school-age children;

. Prolonged use of video games were observed before going to bed;

. Parental supervision is not satisfactory;

. Children from families with lower qualifications experience more daytime sleepiness.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.