Sleep patterns among children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a reexamination of parent perceptions

Abstract

Surveyed parents of children with and without ADHD for their perceptions of their children's sleep patterns. All children had been referred for learning or behavior problems to an outpatient assessment center. Diagnoses of ADHD were based on DSM-III-R, rather than DSM-III criteria, avoiding a possible confound from diagnostic criteria that formerly included sleep disturbance as a defining characteristic of ADHD. Data replicated past findings showing that parents perceive children with ADHD to have greater sleep difficulty than normally developing children. Parents perceived few differences between sleep patterns of children with ADHD who were taking or not taking stimulant medication. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of past literature and present clinical practice.