Citation: Conroy DA, Hairston IS, Zucker RA and Heitzeg MM. Sleep Patterns in Children of Alcoholics and the Relationship with Parental Reports. Austin J Sleep Disord. 2015;2(1): 1009. Austin J Sleep Disord - Volume 2 Issue 1 - 2015 Submit your Manuscript | www.austinpublishinggroup.com Conroy et al. © All rights are reserved Austin Journal of Sleep Disorders Open Access Abstract Parental ratings of poor sleep have been associated with early onset of substance use and substance-related problems during adolescence and young adulthood. Children of alcohol-dependent parents have an increased risk for depression as well as substance-related problems. We conducted the current study to describe sleep -wake patterns in children of alcoholics (COAs) compared to non-alcoholic families (NCOAs), to explore the relationships among sleep assessment methods by groups, and to report rates of agreement between methods by group. We assessed subjective (sleep diaries) and objective (actigraphy-measured) sleep in children with (N=68) and without (N=24) a parental history of alcohol use disorder between 7.2 and 12.9 (mean 10.2 +/- 1.2) years of age. Children were instructed to complete the sleep diaries with assistance from parents only if needed. Parents provided descriptions of their child’s sleep in a Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ). Results showed that COAs reported sleeping slightly less time at night and were more likely to nap during the day. Actigraphy captured fewer hours of sleep and more nighttime motor activity. Sleep diary variables were highly correlated with parent reports on the PSQ, except for bedtimes in some COAs, which were later than parent’s estimations. Conclusion: School- aged COAs showed small but signiicant differences in their sleep characteristics compared to NCOAs. COA self-reported sleep diaries agreed with parental reports, but differed signiicantly from actigraphy measurements of sleep continuity. Insuficient sleep in COAs may be an additional risk factor as they approach adolescence. Keywords: Sleep; Children; Napping; Alcoholism; Actigraphy; Behavior; Sleep diaries Identifying sleep problems early on in life may have important implications for prevention and intervention for mood and substance use disorders. here are a myriad of potential factors that could contribute to the early onset of substance use, including, additive and interactive genetic variations, environmental factors, and childhood psychiatric disorders. Genetic factors account for about 50% of the risk for alcoholism [16]. Children of alcohol-dependent parents have an increased risk for depression as well as substance-related problems [17]. Diferences in sleep or circadian rhythms may predispose to early substance use in children deemed at high risk [18], but it is not clear how such diferences predispose to the development of substance related symptoms once drinking has begun. Methodological examination of sleep in the pediatric population he use of actigraphy is a method to assess normal and disturbed sleep-wake patterns in children. It is easy to use in the home environment compared to PSG. Actigraphy has been well validated as a way to measure sleep-wake patterns, sleep quality, and quantity in normal healthy children [19,20]. Studies on actigraphy in children (ages ranging from infants to 12 years of age) are typically accompanied by a sleep diary completed by the parent(s) [19,21-24]. High correlations have been found between actigraphy and parent reported sleep start and stop times [24] and with “trouble sleeping” Abbreviations COA: Children of Alcoholic; NCOA: Not a Child of an Alcoholic; SOL: Sleep Onset Latency; WASO: Wake time Ater Sleep Onset; TST: Total Sleep Time; SE: Sleep Eiciency Introduction Several studies have now shown that sleep disturbances at an early age can predict psychiatric disorders, such as depression [1-4] suicide [5-7] and drug and alcohol use [8-10]. he etiology of sleep problems in children are multifactorial, but can be associated with social and cultural family environment as well as marital conlict [11]. Sleep and family environment has been evaluated over time in children [12,13] however, whether the sleep disruption is an endogenous phenomenon (i.e. a genetic inluence), an exogenous one (i.e. chaotic home environment), or both, is still unclear. To our knowledge, few studies have examined sleep in children of an alcoholic parent. Objective sleep measures, such as polysomnography (PSG) between in children of alcoholics and healthy controls have not revealed diferences in objective markers, such as sleep stages [14,15]. his study sought to understand subjective sleep patterns in children of alcoholics and parental reports of their children’s sleep in this understudied population. Research Article Sleep Patterns in Children of Alcoholics and the Relationship with Parental Reports Conroy DA 1 *, Hairston IS 2 , Zucker RA 1 and Heitzeg MM 1 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, USA 2 Department of Psychiatry, Tel-Aviv Yaffo Academic College, Israel *Corresponding author: Deirdre A Conroy, Department of Psychiatry, Addiction Research Center, University of Michigan, 4250 Plymouth Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA, Tel: 734-232-0559; Fax: 734-998-7992; Email: daconroy@umich.edu Received: February 01, 2015; Accepted: February 21, 2015; Published: February 24, 2015