Clinical implications of daytime sleepiness for the academic performance of middle school-aged adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

This study investigated the relative impact of total time slept per night and daytime sleepiness on the academic functioning of 100 middle school-aged youth (mean age = 11.9) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The primary goal of the study was to determine if total time slept per night and/or daytime sleepiness, as measured by youth self-report on the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS), predicted academic functioning above and beyond symptoms of ADHD and relevant covariates, such as intelligence, achievement scores and parent education level. Self-reported daytime sleepiness but not self-reported total time slept per night was associated significantly with all academic outcomes. When examined in a hierarchical regression model, self-reported daytime sleepiness significantly predicted parent-rated homework problems and academic impairment and teacher-rated academic competence above and beyond symptoms of ADHD and relevant covariates, but did not predict grade point average or teacher-rated academic impairment. The implications of these findings for understanding more clearly the association between ADHD and sleep and the functional implications of this relationship are discussed.

Keywords: academics; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; daytime sleepiness; school grades; sleep.