A review of the connection between parents' psychological well-being and sleep and behavioral concerns in children with autism spectrum disorder

Objective: Identify evidence-based interventions for sleep disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by analyzing their sleep behaviors and influencing factors. Methods: The study included 315 children with ASD are between the ages of three and seven, as well as 237 healthy children.The Childrens Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the 90-item Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) were administered. Results: Poor sleep quality was observed in 78.65% (218/315) of children with ASD. Furthermore, the CSHQ scores were compared between the two groups to see if there were any differences. The results indicated that children with ASD exhibited elevated levels of total and subscale scores related to sleep duration, nighttime awakenings, abnormal sleep, bedtime habits, sleep anxiety, and daytime sleepiness than the control group. A study was conducted on the ASD group using Pearson correlation analysis to examine all variables. The results showed that total emotional problems scores were positively correlated with sleep behavior; positive behavior was negatively correlated with sleep behavior; and total difficulty scores were significantly correlated with correlated with daytime sleepiness, sleep delay, and sleep duration. Parents of children with ASD and insomnia scored significantly higher on items such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and hostility compared to parents of children with ASD and normal sleep. Conclusion: Children with autism have significant sleep problems, and both parental mental health and children's problem behaviors influence sleep behavior in children.