A Systematic Review on Cross-Cultural Comparative Studies of Sleep in Young Populations: The Roles of Cultural Factors.

Mina Jeon,Elizabeth J Halstead,Dagmara Dimitriou

doi:10.3390/ijerph18042005

Mina Jeon, Elizabeth J Halstead + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042005

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Abstract

Recent studies have shown that sleep is influenced and shaped by cultural factors, including cultural values, beliefs and practices. However, a systematic understanding of how cultural factors in countries may influence sleep duration and sleep disturbances is still lacking. Therefore, we focused on a comparison of sleep duration and disturbances in young populations between countries. We report cross-cultural differences between the child, parent and environmental factors, and their association with sleep duration and disturbances. The review is based on literature searches of seven databases published until December 2020. Studies were included if they investigated sleep duration and disturbances of individuals up to 18 years across at least two or more countries. The results of this review have shown that sleep duration and disturbances vary between countries and regions and certain factors (e.g., bedtime routines, sleeping arrangement, physical activity and psychological functioning) have been associated with sleep duration or disturbances. This review also demonstrates that certain factors which were associated with sleep duration or disturbances in one country, were not shown in other countries, suggesting a need for recommendations for age-related sleep duration and sleep interventions to consider cultural differences that influence sleep duration or disturbances in individual countries or regions.

Highlights

Throughout the decades, there has been a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of sleep in several areas of child development, including physical, psychological and cognitive development [1,2,3,4]
The results of this review have demonstrated that there are specific sleep variables and culturally relevant factors that were prevalently studied in a particular age group, for example, habitual naps were mainly examined in those who are younger than pre-schoolaged children while circadian rhythm was only examined in adolescents
There is a high prevalence of bed/bedroom sharing with parents throughout Asia [17,42]. This increase in parental report of sleep disturbances may be related to parental presence throughout the night, as they are more likely to identify sleep disturbances in their children with greater accuracy, compared to solitary sleeping practices [69]

Summary

Introduction

Throughout the decades, there has been a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of sleep in several areas of child development, including physical, psychological and cognitive development [1,2,3,4]. Children and adolescents spend most of their time learning, it is important to consider the impact of poor sleep on cognitive development, which could influence children’s academic performance [1]. Insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality can cause daytime sleepiness, which, in turn, can have a negative effect on attention and learning motivation, resulting in poorer academic performance [5]. A recently published paper found a benefit of midday napping on academic performance [6]. It was found that children who napped 3 times or more per week, or longer than 31 min on average, demonstrated up to a 7.6% increase in academic performance [6]

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