Leiden University Student Repository

Voeten, Daphne (2020)

True or false: a sleepy child is a grumpy child: The effect of sleep quality on mood in boys and girls

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

Multiple studies suggest that worse sleep quality would lead to a worse mood the next day. It is important to address this issue, because mood is an essential factor regarding someone’s quality of life. However, it is not clear how this works for children. Another issue that comes forward is that it is unclear how gender moderates this relationship. We investigated the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between sleep quality and mood in 82 normally developing children (Age M= 7.44; SD=.61; age range 7-9; 43% boys). Sleep quality was defined as sleep efficiency and was measured with actigraph watches the children wore at night. Parents filled in diary questions about their children’s affective mood states: valence, energetic arousal and calmness. We looked at the influence of one night of sleep on mood the next day. We did not find a relationship between sleep efficiency and mood. This shows that mood in normal developing children is not affected by sleep efficiency. We...Show moreMultiple studies suggest that worse sleep quality would lead to a worse mood the next day. It is important to address this issue, because mood is an essential factor regarding someone’s quality of life. However, it is not clear how this works for children. Another issue that comes forward is that it is unclear how gender moderates this relationship. We investigated the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between sleep quality and mood in 82 normally developing children (Age M= 7.44; SD=.61; age range 7-9; 43% boys). Sleep quality was defined as sleep efficiency and was measured with actigraph watches the children wore at night. Parents filled in diary questions about their children’s affective mood states: valence, energetic arousal and calmness. We looked at the influence of one night of sleep on mood the next day. We did not find a relationship between sleep efficiency and mood. This shows that mood in normal developing children is not affected by sleep efficiency. We also researched if gender moderates the relationship between sleep efficiency and mood. The effect of sleep efficiency and mood was the same for boys and girls. This finding strengthens the idea that gender differences only become apparent after the onset of puberty. Therefore it does not matter if you are a boy or a girl: one bad night of sleep will not affect your mood the next day.Show less

mood

sleep quality

gender differences

Author

Voeten, Daphne

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Child and Adolescent Psychology

Supervisors

Meulen, M. van der
Dobbelaar, S.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en