不同睡眠时间参数对学前儿童执行功能的差异化影响

Differential influence of sleep time parameters on preschoolers' executive function

研究选取78名5~7岁的学前儿童为研究对象,采用睡眠日志法测量了儿童的夜间睡眠比、总睡眠时长和周末补偿睡眠三个睡眠时间的指标,同时采用母亲报告法收集儿童的消极情绪性, 3个月后采用美国国立卫生研究院(NIH)的一套标准化测量程序评估儿童的执行功能,探讨三个睡眠时间参数对不同消极情绪性学前儿童执行功能的差异化影响。结果发现,在控制了儿童的同时性语言能力之后,夜间睡眠比能够显著预测儿童三个月之后的执行功能;儿童的消极情绪性与周末补偿睡眠对执行功能的三个子成分存在显著的交互作用。当周末补偿睡眠较少时,高消极情绪性儿童的执行功能显著低于低消极情绪性儿童;当周末补偿睡眠较多时,高消极情绪性儿童的执行功能显著高于低消极情绪性儿童,该结果符合差别易感性模型。

In China,disruptive sleep patterns and sleep deficiency are prevalent in preschool children.Literature has largely focused on the relationship between sleep duration and child development in adolescents and school-age children.Yet little is known about the impact of sleep duration in preschool children,for example,on their advanced neurocognitive function.Given that sleep need and sleep maturation develop rapidly in the first years of life,research findings in older children cannot be generalized to preschoolers.problems.Temperament,one aspect of individual susceptibility,is shown to be relatively stable across situations and developmental periods.In this study,negative emotionality in preschool children was used to indicate temperament.The goal of this study was to examine the links between preschoolers’initial sleep duration(i.e.,total daily sleep duration,ratio of nighttime sleep to total daily sleep,and sleep compensation over the weekend)and later executive function and the moderating role of children’s negative emotionality in the links.The sample was composed of 78 preschool children(Mage=6.31 years,SD=0.35)and their mothers.Total daily sleep duration,ratio of nighttime sleep,sleep compensation over the weekend,and child negative emotionality were assessed using parental sleep diaries and mother reports.Child executive function was measured three months later using a set of standardized measurement procedures offered by the National Institutes of Health(NIH).The results of the present study indicated that controlling for children’s concurrent language ability,initial ratio of nighttime sleep significantly predicted children’s subsequent executive function.In addition,we found that negative emotionality significantly moderated the relation between sleep compensation and the three components of the executive function(working memory,inhibitory control,cognitive flexibility),in support of the differential susceptibility model.Specifically,sleep compensation was positively associated with performance in the executive function tests for preschool children with high negative emotionality whereas the association was nonsignificant for children with low negative emotionality.In conclusion,our findings suggested that children who sleep longer at night would be more advanced in their EF development.For children with high negative emotionality,sleep compensation over the weekend has a positive effect on their executive function skills.The results of this study provided important practical implications for Chinese preschoolers’sleep arrangements.