Custody Form and Children’s Sleep Habits

Jani Turunen , Stockholm University
Annika Norell Clarke, Centre for Research on Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Health, Karlstads University
Curt Hagquist, Centre for Research on Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Health, Karlstads University

The aim of this study is to analyse a potential link between custody form and children’s sleep habits including bed times, sleep duration and sleep onset difficulties. Children living in original two-parent families are compared to those with separated parents living in equal shared custody, in a single parent household or a custody form with some, but not equal, time sharing. Data was obtained from the Swedish national sample of Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey from 2013/2014. The first preliminary results shows that the sleeping habits of children of divorced parents living regularly in both households do not differ from those living in an original two-parent family. Children living with a single parent have significantly higher likelihood of sleeping less than the recommended seven hours as do those who do have some residential sharing but not regularly.

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 Presented in Session 247. Families and Adolescent Health