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Sleep Problems of Children with Autism May Independently Affect Parental Quality of Life

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Abstract

The current study explored how and to what extent sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacted their parents’ quality of life (QOL). A total of 440 ASD children and 344 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were included in the case–control designed study. In the TD group, a linear regression model showed that the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) total scores were negatively associated with maternal mental health summary (MCS) scores in the SF-36v2 (β = − 2.831), while in the ASD group, the CSHQ total scores were negatively associated with the parental physical health summary (PCS) scores (β = − 3.030 for mothers, β = − 3.651 for fathers). Path analysis showed that sleep problems in ASD children had both direct and indirect effects on maternal PCS scores. The results indicated that sleep problems in children with ASD might affect parental QOL differently from TD children, and act as independent impact factors on parental physical health.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the subjects who participated in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB517901) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81974217, 81601197). The sponsors helped with the design of the study and the collection and analysis of the data.

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Author notes

  1. Ruiting Liu and Huixi Dong have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, China

    Ruiting Liu, Huixi Dong, Ying Wang, Jianjun Ou, Yidong Shen & Jingping Zhao

  2. Center for Medical Genetics and Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Ruiting Liu & Kun Xia

  3. Mental Health Center of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Huixi Dong

  4. Qingdao Mental Health Center, Qingdao, Shandong, China

    Xiaozi Lu

  5. Clinical Nursing Teaching and Research Section, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Yamin Li

  6. Shandong Mental Health Center, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Guanglei Xun

Authors
  1. Ruiting Liu
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  2. Huixi Dong
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianjun Ou or Yidong Shen.

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All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

This study was part of a large research project that was approved by the Human Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. Written informed consent was obtained from all enrolled families.

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Liu, R., Dong, H., Wang, Y. et al. Sleep Problems of Children with Autism May Independently Affect Parental Quality of Life. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 52, 488–499 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01035-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01035-z

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