Pediatric Sleep Disturbances and Symptoms of Depression in Older Adults

We investigated the association between retrospectively reported sleep disturbances during childhood and adolescence and current symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults. Participants included 116 older adults (M age = 68 years [SD = 6.4 years]) who completed a battery of sleep and psychological assessments. We tested two multivariate regression models using age, sex, race, physical illness burden, insomnia status, and pediatric sleep disturbances as correlates of depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms. Pediatric sleep disturbances were significantly associated with greater depressive symptomatology (beta = 0.247, p = .010), independent of current insomnia status. Medium effect sizes were reported. Our results suggest that pediatric sleep disturbances may be a biobehavioral signal for the development of poor emotional health across the lifespan. Future research should identify critical windows of development when sleep disturbances might be most impactful on emotional health trajectories.