Changes in child abuse experience associated to sleep quality: results of the Korean Children & Youth Panel Survey

Abstract

Background A victim of child abuse can often develop mental illness. The early detection of mental illness of children could be supported by observing sleep quality. Therefore, we examined the relationship between sleep quality and the changes in child abuse by the child’s own parents over the study period. Methods Data from the 2011–2013 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey was used, and 2012 was set as the baseline. Adolescents who had poor sleep quality in 2011 were excluded from the analysis to obtain the final study population of 1276 adolescents aged 14 and 15 years. The generalized estimating equation model (GEE) was used for statistical analysis. Results Children who had experienced and/or were currently experiencing child abuse showed significantly poorer sleep quality (current year abuse only: odds ratio [OR] = 0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.41, 0.79; prior year abuse only: OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.52, 0.99; continuous abuse: OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.39, 0.80) compared to children who had no experience of child abuse. Conclusion Child abuse remains a traumatic experience that influences the quality of sleep and hinders the child’s proper psychological development. We suggest approaching this issue at both the community and national levels to protect the victims.

Child abuse and individual traits related to developmental trajectories of bullying victimization: An integrated, multitheoretical approach

“…Adolescents experiencing physical abuse at home may attend school physically injured and/or depressed and tired due to sleeplessness resulting from child abuse (Chae et al, 2021; Hildenbrand et al, 2018; Sutter et al, 2023). One could argue from a state dependence perspective that appearing tired, weak, detached, and sad may boost the likelihood that adolescents will be victimized repeatedly given the ease with which they can be bullied, but not necessarily long‐term.…”

Childhood sleep: assessments, risk factors, and potential mechanisms

“…Living with domestic violence may result in sleep deficiency that persists even after the abuse has ended [ 134 ]. Similarly, children who have experienced either physical and/or sexual abuse report more sleep deficiency issues than children who are not abused [ 135 , 136 ], and these effects on sleep are long-term [ 137 , 138 ]. Specifically, victims of abuse demonstrate prolonged sleep latency, decreased sleep efficiency, increased nighttime activity and wakefulness, and decreased sleep duration as measured by surveys [ 135 ] and polysomnography [ 139 , 140 ].…”

Associations among early life adversity, sleep disturbances, and depressive symptoms in adolescent females and males: a longitudinal investigation

“…Sleep disturbances tend to increase during adolescence due to a combination of puberty‐related shift in circadian rhythm and psychosocial changes that result in restricted and irregular sleep (Crowley, Wolfson, Tarokh, & Carskadon, 2018). ELA has been associated cross‐sectionally with greater sleep disturbances during adolescence (April‐Sanders et al., 2021; Chae, Jang, Park, & Jang, 2021; Langevin et al., 2019; McPhie, Weiss, & Wekerle, 2014; Park et al., 2021; Turner et al., 2020; Wang, Raffeld, Slopen, Hale, & Dunn, 2016; Xiao et al., 2020). While few longitudinal studies have been conducted, one prospective, longitudinal study found that ELA is associated with greater sleep disturbances during adolescence, but not during childhood (April‐Sanders et al., 2021), suggesting that the normative increases in sleep disturbance during adolescence represent a double hit for individuals with a history of ELA (Fuligni, Chiang, & Tottenham, 2021).…”

“…In addition to a lack of longitudinal studies, previous studies examining the association between ELA and sleep during adolescence have mostly relied on self‐reported measures to assess ELA (April‐Sanders et al., 2021; Chae et al., 2021; McPhie et al., 2014; Park et al., 2021; Turner et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2016; Xiao et al., 2020) as well as utilized a cumulative risk approach where the number of adverse events is summed, regardless of the severity of the events (e.g., April‐Sanders et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2016). These methods may not fully capture the multifaceted and complex experience of ELA exposure.…”