Sleep disturbances and teacher ratings of school achievement and temperament in children.
BACKGROUND
The current study examined the relationships between academic achievement, sleep, temperament and demographic-historical data in school-age children.


METHODS
Teachers were asked to fill out the teacher temperament questionnaire and a form for school achievement, while mothers filled out a demographic-historical form and the sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC), a 26-item questionnaire that consisted of six factors: difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS), sleep breathing disorders (SBD), arousal disorders (DA), sleep-wake transition disorders (SWTD), disorders of excessive somnolence (DOES), sleep hyperhydrosis (SHY). From a sample of 380 school children, 264 (70%) were suitable for the analyses (141 M and 123 F aged 8-11 years, mean 9.6 years). A school achievement index (SAI) was derived, summing up four items (reading ability, reading comprehension, mathematics, executive ability) of the teacher form for school achievement.


RESULTS
SAI mean for the total sample was 11.1 (SD=2.8). A significant gender difference was found: females have higher SAI than males. The analysis of the demographic-historical form showed that only two factors appeared to affect SAI score: enuresis and the low educational level of the mother. The pattern of correlations showed that (a) the SAI was negatively related to the SDSC total score, in particular to DIMS and DOES sub-factors, and (b) the SAI was significantly and positively correlated with the temperamental traits of task-orientation and personal-social flexibility. A multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the temperamental traits task-orientation and personal-social flexibility are the most predictive factors for SAI while the mother's educational level and the SDSC total score, although they contributed significantly to the prediction of SAI, accounted for only a small portion of variance.


CONCLUSIONS
Temperament and sleep are important factors influencing school achievement, and their assessment could help to identify children at risk regarding school achievement.
Bruni
Oliviero
O
Department of Developmental Neurology and Psychiatry, Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via dei Sabelli 108, 00185 Rome, Italy. oliviero.bruni@uniroma1.it
Ferini-Strambi
Luigi
L
Russo
Paolo M
PM
Antignani
Massimo
M
Innocenzi
Margherita
M
Ottaviano
Paola
P
Valente
Donatella
D
Ottaviano
Salvatore
S
D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D015995:Prevalence; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament