بررسی رابطه افسردگی مادران با مشکلات خواب کودکان پیش دبستانی 3 تا 6 سال

Background and purpose: Mothers’ depression is considered as a risk factor for children’s cognitive and social-emotional development that could lead to behavioral, emotional and cognitive disorders. Sleep behaviors and patterns could be influenced by mothers’ depression. This research aimed at investigating the relationship between mothers’ depression and sleep problems in their 3-6 year old children. Materials and methods: This causal-comparative study was conducted in 3-6-year old preschool children and their mothers in the cities of Urmia and Mahabad. Applying cluster sampling, 465 mothers were selected and completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. Mothers were divided into six groups based on their BDI scores. One way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were used for data analysis. Results: The findings indicated a significant positive relationship between different components and total scores for depression and sleep problems (P>0.001). ANOVA analysis showed significant correlation between level of depression and different types of sleep disorders in children. In other words, children of mothers with more levels of depression suffered more sleeping problems (P> 0.001). Conclusion: Mothers’ depression and psychological problems disrupt the children’s normal sleep, thereby causing other problems. So, it is necessary to focus more on controlling depression to avoid its negative influences on the health of family and children.