Impact of adverse childhood experiences and family resilience on sleep duration in autistic children

Abstract

Autistic children are at higher risk of experiencing adverse childhood experiences, which lead to negative health outcomes such as sleep difficulties. In the general population, family resilience can help reduce the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences on child functioning. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of adverse childhood experiences on sleep duration, and whether family resilience moderates this impact in autistic children. With data from 2882 caregivers of children with autism from the National Survey of Children’s Health, we examined the role of family resilience on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and sleep duration. As shown in previous findings, there was a main effect of adverse childhood experiences on sleep duration. There was no significant main effect of family resilience on sleep duration. Results also show that family resilience moderates the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and sleep duration, possibly serving as a protective factor.

Lay abstract

Autistic children are more likely to have sleep difficulties and to experience adverse childhood experiences. Adverse childhood experiences can include parental divorce, bullying, or witnessing violence. We also know that children in families who are resilient (e.g. families who are connected, work together, and help each other) are less impacted by adverse childhood experiences. Our study examined whether there was a relationship between adverse childhood experiences and sleep duration in autistic children. We also wanted to find out whether family resilience protects from the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences on sleep duration. We used data from 3247 parent surveys about their children that we got from the National Survey of Children’s Health. We found that children with adverse childhood experiences are more likely to get less sleep. We also found that children with resilient families were more likely to get more sleep. Our results show that family resilience helps weaken the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and sleep, so it is important to help families build resilience.