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Psychometric properties of Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale (YSIS) in Chinese adolescents

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Abstract

Insomnia is prevalent in adolescents. Although several insomnia scales/questionnaires are available to assess insomnia symptoms and severity for adults, no insomnia scale has been specifically developed for adolescents. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale (YSIS) in a large sample of Chinese adolescents. The YSIS consists of 8 items assessing insomnia symptoms, perceived sleep quality and insufficiency, and impaired daytime functioning. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale. A sample of 11,626 adolescents in China completed the YSIS and a structured questionnaire to assess sleep duration, sleep problems, hypnotic use, and behavioral/emotional problems. A subsample of 242 adolescents completed retest questionnaire 2 weeks later. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed. The YSIS score ranged from 8 to 40 (M = 19.1, SD= 6.2). Internal consistency reliability coefficient was 0.80 and 2-week test–retest reliability coefficient was 0.82. Both EFA and CFA yielded 2 dominant factors defined as insomnia symptoms (3 items) and daytime distress or impairment (5 items). The YSIS score was significantly correlated with short nocturnal sleep duration, depression, hypnotic use, sleep disordered breathing problems, restless legs syndrome, and daytime sleepiness. Similar results were obtained between male and female adolescents. The YSIS appears to be a simple, reliable and valid scale for assessing insomnia severity in adolescents. Further research is warranted to assess its psychometric properties with clinical samples and non-Chinese adolescents.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank staffs at Yanggu County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Lijin County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Zoucheng City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Province, China and all participating school teachers for their help with data collection and all students for their voluntarily participating in the study. The authors would also like to thank Colin Liu for assistance with literature search.

Funding

This research was funded in part for data collection by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 81573233).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong University School of Public Health, Jinan, 250012, China

    Xianchen Liu, Zhen-Zhen Liu & Cun-Xian Jia

  2. South China Normal University School of Psychology, Guangzhou, China

    Xianchen Liu & Fang Fan

  3. Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Xianchen Liu

  4. Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA

    Yanyun Yang & Yachen Luo

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  1. Xianchen Liu
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  2. Yanyun Yang
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  5. Fang Fan
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  6. Cun-Xian Jia
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Correspondence to Xianchen Liu.

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Ethical approval

This study was approved by the research ethics committee of Shandong University and has, therefore, been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Appendix

Appendix

Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale (YSIS)

During the past month, how often would you rate your sleep? Please circle your answer to the following questions.

过去一个月,你的睡眠情况如何?请对每个问题选择适合你的答案。.

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Liu, X., Yang, Y., Liu, ZZ. et al. Psychometric properties of Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale (YSIS) in Chinese adolescents. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 17, 339–348 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-019-00222-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-019-00222-3

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