Sleep problems in Korean children with Down syndrome and parental quality of life.
Four out of five Korean kids with Down syndrome have sleep issues that drag down parental quality of life—screen early and often.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Parents of Korean children with Down syndrome filled out two surveys. One asked about the child’s sleep habits. The other asked about the parent’s own stress and happiness.
The team wanted to see if heavy sleep loads hurt caregiver life quality.
What they found
Four out of five kids had parent-reported sleep trouble. When nights were worse, parents scored lower on quality-of-life scales.
The study did not test any fix; it only counted the problem.
How this fits with other research
Taylor et al. (2017) already showed the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire works well in Down syndrome. Greene et al. (2019) used that same tool, so the 83% figure rests on solid ground.
McCavert et al. (2026) ran a near-copy survey in Northern Ireland with kids who have cerebral palsy. They found lower but still high sleep-disturbance rates (43%). The two studies line up: neuro-genetic conditions equal rough nights.
Duker et al. (1991) proved an ABA package—faded bedtime plus response cost—can give families more nighttime sleep. Their single-case design offers a ready next step once screening flags a child.
Why it matters
If you serve families of children with Down syndrome, add the CSHQ to your intake packet. One quick checklist spots the four-in-five who need help. After you find them, borrow the 1991 faded-bedtime plan or run a brief paired-choice assessment like O'Reilly et al. (2004) to find what keeps the child awake. Treat sleep, and you also treat parent stress.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Sleep problems are common among children with Down syndrome (DS), and they can have a serious impact on children with DS as well as their parents and other family members. Specific aims of this study were to evaluate parent-reported sleep problems in children with DS and to examine the relationship between the sleep behaviour of children with DS and their parents' quality of life (QOL). METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in September and October of 2017. Parents of children with DS were recruited from an online self-support community for parents of children with DS in South Korea. The mean age of the parents and children with DS was 40.40 years (SD = 5.09) and 7.89 years (SD = 3.03), respectively. Children's sleep problems and parents' QOL were assessed using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire and the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale, respectively. RESULTS: Results revealed that 83% of the parents reported that their child with DS experienced sleep problems. Children with DS had significantly more bedtime resistance, night waking, parasomnias and sleep-disordered breathing than did typically developing children. In addition, their Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire scores were higher than those of typically developing children. Moreover, being older, being male and having more severe developmental delays were significant risk factors for sleep problems among children with DS. Furthermore, sleep problems in children with DS negatively affected parents' QOL. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep problems negatively affect children with DS as well as their parents; therefore, health care providers should be aware of these issues and help parents manage sleep problems proactively.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2019 · doi:10.1111/jir.12675