Peer-reviewed article
Associations between community violence and pediatric sleep health: A systematic review.
Scheibner HR, Condon EM, LaFleur KA, Redeker NS ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examined how exposure to community violence affects children's sleep health by analyzing 29 studies published in academic databases. The review found that community violence exposure was consistently linked with worse sleep outcomes across multiple measures including sleep quality, duration, and disturbances. Most studies focused on adolescents, with few examining younger children. The authors call for more rigorous research with consistent definitions and measures, particularly among infants and young children, and for interventions to protect sleep health in violent communities.
Key points
- 29 eligible studies examined associations between community violence and pediatric sleep health across 6 sleep domains
- Community violence exposure was consistently negatively associated with pediatric sleep health across studies
- Most studies focused on adolescents (n=18); only 1 study included infants and 2 included early childhood
- Quality issues were common: 6 studies rated fair quality, 5 rated poor quality, often due to non-validated measures
- Authors recommend consistent definitions and measures, more research on younger age groups, and multilevel community-based interventions
Limitations
The review does not specify which countries the included studies were conducted in, and the quality of included studies was mixed, limiting the strength of conclusions. The review cannot determine causality or identify effective interventions, only document associations.
Abstract
Inadequate sleep during childhood can have a lasting negative impact on lifelong health. Children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to be exposed to community violence, which may disrupt sleep health. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the associations between community violence and pediatric sleep health. We searched 4 electronic databases (CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, and Embase) to identify articles that examined the associations between community violence and pediatric sleep health. We screened 2271 articles and included 29 eligible studies. Studies focused on sleep quality (n = 4), daytime sleepiness (n = 8), sleep timing (n = 4), sleep efficiency (n = 7), duration (n = 13), and sleep disturbance (n = 19). Most studies included adolescents (n = 18); others included infants (n = 1), those in early childhood (n = 2), and a wide range of ages (n = 7). Six studies were of fair quality, while 5 were of poor quality, often due to the use of measures that were not psychometrically sound and incomplete sample descriptions. Community violence exposure was consistently negatively associated with pediatric sleep health. Consistent definitions and measures of sleep and community violence are needed to promote rigor and comparisons across studies. Future studies should include infants and children under the age of 6 years and address potential risk and protective factors for sleep health. Research is needed to inform policy changes and multilevel community-based interventions to help buffer the harmful effects of community violence and promote pediatric sleep health.