W HAT A N IGHTMARE ! N OT ALL SLEEP MEASURES ARE CREATED EQUAL Take Aways Introduction Methods and Measures Discussion Current Study  Sleep disturbances have profound effects on such key outcomes as: emotional reactivity behavioral problems social adjustment academic performance physical health 1  How do discrete measures of sleep disturbances differentially affect outcomes in middle childhood?  Research has investigated nightmares within the context of trauma and PTSD but, less in general is understood about nightmares in healthy populations. 2  Nightmares are linked to anxiety and depression, but limited research has addressed nightmares as a unique sleep disturbance in middle childhood. 4 We examined unique links between children’s non-traumatic nightmares and emotional functioning during the preadolescent period. We hypothesized that: 1.) A variety of sleep disturbances in third grade would be related to anxious/depressive symptoms and emotional reactivity according to multiple informants at grade six. 2.) Only nightmares in third grade would predict anxious/depressive symptoms in sixth grade, even when we included all other sleep disturbances in our analysis. NICHD SECCYD dataset with n=1026. Measured at two time points: Grade 3 and Grade 6 Multiple Informants: Mothers, Teachers, and Children Sleep Disturbances in Third Grade (G3): Nightmares Daytime sleepiness Trouble sleeping Sleeping more or less than most kids Talks or walks in sleep Amount of sleep Socioaffective Outcomes in Sixth Grade (G6): Maternal report of child anxious/ depressive symptoms Child self-report of depressive symptoms Teacher report of child’s anxious/depressive symptoms Maternal report of child emotional reactivity Teacher report of child emotional reactivity After controlling for maternal depressive symptoms and child anxious/depressive symptoms at G3, we found that:  Maternal report of child nightmares at G3 significantly predicted maternal report of child anxious/depressive symptoms at G6 ( β =0.062).  Maternal report of child trouble sleeping at G3 predicted child self-report of depression symptoms at G6 ( β =0.081).  Maternal report of child amount of sleep at G3 was negatively associated with teacher report of child emotional reactivity at G6 ( β = ).  Nightmares were the only measure of sleep that predicted maternal report of child anxious/depressive symptoms.  Trouble sleeping was the only measure of sleep that predicted child self-report of anxious/depressive symptoms.  Less sleep duration in third grade predicted less effective emotional strategies and behaviors when interacting with peers in grade six. Results Controlled for Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child’s Depressive Symptoms Structural equation modeling used to conduct a path analysis Contact Information Timothy Valshtein, Joan Foley, Judith Stull, Marsha Weinraub Temple University (973) Distinct sleep disturbances may differentially affect specific aspects of children’s behavior. Nightmares are a unique and separate phenomena from other sleep disturbances. Future research may benefit from using discrete sleep disturbance measures as opposed to collapsing them into a general sleep problem score. 1: Mindell, 2011; Gregory et al., 2008; Dahl, 1996; Curcio, Ferrara, and Gennaro, : van der Kolk et al., 1984; Spoormaker, Schredl, and van den Bout, 2006; Inman, Silver, & Doghramji, 1989; Mindell & Barrett, : Levin and Nielsen, : Nielsen et al., 2000; Simard et al., 2008; Levin & Nielsen, 2007; Gregory et al., 2011