Emotion Regulation and Sleep in School-Aged Children

Abstract

Emotion regulation is an important area of skill development in children, particularly those that are school-aged. The current study examined how sleep, a process known to also be vital for the functioning and development of children, is related to emotion regulation. Specifically, caregiver reports were used to investigate overall child sleep quality as well as specific sleep constructs. Participants were recruited from an online crowdsourcing marketplace. Two validated instruments were used to measure emotion regulation and sleep constructs. Correlational and regression analyses were done between total and subscale scores from each instrument. Findings suggest that overall sleep quality, psychological sleep factors, and physical sleep factors are all related to adaptive emotion regulation behaviors as well as caregiver-reported negative affect and mood lability in children. The current study has implications for education and intervention for caregivers and children alike to further assist in fostering healthy development and functioning in school-aged children.