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Estimating Child Sleep From Parent Report Of Time In Bed: Development And Evaluation Of Adjustment Approaches, Timothy D. Nelson, Alyssa Lundahl, Dennis L. Molfese, Rachel N. Waford, Adrienne Roman, David Gozal, Victoria J. Molfese, Melissa C. Ferguson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective To develop and evaluate adjustment factors to convert parent-reported time in bed to an estimate of child sleep time consistent with objective measurement. Methods A community sample of 217 children aged 4–9 years (mean age = 6.6 years) wore actigraph wristwatches to objectively measure sleep for 7 days while parents completed reports of child sleep each night. After examining the moderators of the discrepancy between parent reports and actigraphy, 3 adjustment factors were evaluated. Results Parent report of child sleep overestimated nightly sleep duration by ~24 min per night relative to actigraphy. Child age, gender, and sleep quality all …