A 22-item Likert-type rating scale for parents was developed for screening a broad range of specific sleep-related behaviors of elementary school children. The prevalence of these behaviors was reported by parents for boys (n = 459) and girls (n = 411) in three age groups, less than 8.5 yr., between 8.5 and 11.5 yr., and greater than 11.5 yr. For all age groups, the most prevalent behaviors were restlessness, waking up at night, pleasant dreams, getting up to go to the bathroom, talking while asleep, and complaints about not being able to sleep, while the least frequent were rhythmical movements and crying while asleep. The self-reports suggest that many of the behaviors are underestimated in the literature. Some sex and age differences were found, but the number of siblings, birth order, change in family structure, and educational status of father and mother were unrelated to the sleep variables. Test-retest reliabilities of self-reports by these parents to individual items were adequate.

Epidemiological, behavioral and etiological variables related to sleep disturbances were investigated in a survey of 1695 children in Grades 1 to 12 from 11 randomly selected schools. Sleep-walking, nightmares and sleep-talking were strongly associated with each other as well as to a family history of sleep-walking. Enuresis, however, was not related to the other sleep variables. Socioeconomic status of father was weakly related to enuresis and sleep-talking but not to sleep-walking or nightmares. Gender was not related to any of the sleep disturbances. The behavioral variables, physical activity, attention, emotional excitability, and feelings easily hurt showed a small association with the sleep disturbances. Parents most frequently attributed causes of sleep-walking and nightmares to over-tiredness and over-excitement. As well, parents' comments indicated that they tend to associate specific events such as illness or more often, frightening TV content with nightmares, but not sleep-walking.

We investigated the factor structure of the Children's Sleep Behavior Scale in an unselected sample of children (N = 838), ages 6 to 12.5 years, drawn from an elementary school population. Although no factor emerged that corresponded exactly to the parasomnias, as described by the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers (1979), all of the variables that loaded on Factor 1 were behaviors characteristic of the parasomnias, with the exception of recalled nightmares. Variables that were expected to load on this factor, but did not, were sleeptalking, teeth grinding, and enuresis. Enuresis was not related to any of the sleep behaviors assessed, and teeth grinding shared less than 9% of the variance with any of the other variables. Many of the variables loaded on more than one factor. The second factor, which was labeled bedtime resistance, was the only clearly unambiguous factor. Of the five factors that emerged, the third reflected positive affect, the fourth was a motor factor, and the fifth was an anxiety factor. Nightmares loaded on the anxiety factor as well as the first factor. The results of the study offered no support for the category of Disorders of Initiating and Maintaining sleep (DIMS), which has a childhood onset.

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In a 10-week longitudinal study, 29 parents and their children kept daily records of the children's sleep behaviors, excitement levels, and tiredness levels. Although the hypothesized increase in sleep behaviors such as sleepwalking and restlessness during the week of Christmas did not occur, children rated as more excitable by their parents and themselves exhibited a higher frequency of sleep behaviors. Positive associations were also found between averaged tiredness ratings and sleep scores. The results support previous findings of an association between arousal characteristics of children and their sleep behavior. Moderate validity coefficients were obtained for parents' and children's ratings of excitement, tiredness, and nocturnal waking.

A study was done to compare diminution of the GSR to repetitive stimulation by different concentrations of hedonically positive (sucrose), negative (quinine monohydrochloride), and neutral (water) solutions. Each of nine groups of 5"s were stimulated by a single concentration of one of the solutions. Habituation of''the GSR to the quinine required significantly more presentations than to sucrose or water. Since the orienting reaction sensitizes the individual to potential trauma and since most noxious compounds are potentially toxic, it follows that the GSR component of the orienting reflex (OR) should be slower to ^habituate to quinine than the other solutions. This hypothesis was supported by obtained data. Quinine concentration was a significant factor, while sucrose concentration was not. The findings were extended to provide a preliminary evaluation of a conjectured gustatory affect process that is responsible for the repugnance shown when bitter compounds are tasted.