Adolescents Exposed to Greater Parental Conflict More Likely to Have Sleep Problems as Emerging Adults

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by PsyPost.

An eight-year study following a group of adolescents into emerging adulthood found that individuals exposed to more conflict between their parents during adolescence tended to have more sleep problems as emerging adults. These individuals generally had lower sleep efficiency and experienced a higher number of long wake episodes. The study was published in Sleep Health.

Many children witness conflicts between their parents. Studies indicate that over 40% of adolescents are exposed to verbal conflicts between their parents each year, while 22% witness physical conflict. Witnessing conflict, particularly violent conflict, is stressful for children and adolescents and can lead to sleep problems.

Study author Ryan J. Kelly and his colleagues sought to examine the relationship between witnessing conflict between parents during adolescence (ages 16-18) and sleep quality in emerging adulthood (age 23). They hypothesized that greater exposure to parental conflict during adolescence would predict more sleep-related problems in emerging adulthood.

In this study, the authors focused on three key sleep measures: time spent sleeping, sleep efficiency (the percentage of time participants spent sleeping between falling asleep and waking), and long wake episodes (the number of times participants woke and stayed awake for longer than five minutes during sleep).

Results showed that individuals who slept better at ages 16, 17, and 18 also tended to sleep better at age 23. However, participants who experienced more conflict between their parents at ages 16-18 tended to have lower sleep efficiency and a higher number of long wake episodes at age 23. The total time spent sleeping was not associated with the amount of parental conflict participants had witnessed.

Source: PsyPost
https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-exposed-to-parental-conflict-more-likely-to-have-sleep-problems-as-emerging-adults/