Peer-reviewed article
Associations between preschool sleep consolidation trajectories and receptive vocabulary at age 5.
Evelyne Touchette, Gabrielle Fréchette-Boilard, Amandine E Rey, Stéphanie Mazza, Marie-Hélène Pennestri et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tracked sleep patterns in preschool children from ages 2.5 to 5 years and examined how those patterns related to vocabulary development. Researchers identified three different sleep consolidation patterns: rapid, typical, and gradual. Children with gradual sleep consolidation had lower vocabulary scores at age 5, and having an immigrant mother or attending non-certified childcare was also associated with lower vocabulary scores.
Key points
- Three sleep consolidation trajectories were identified: rapid (9.0%), typical (44.4%), and gradual (46.5%)
- Children in the gradual sleep consolidation trajectory had significantly lower receptive vocabulary scores at age 5 (β = -0.10)
- Immigrant mothers' children scored lower on vocabulary measures (β = -0.31)
- Children in non-certified or relative-based childcare had lower vocabulary scores than those in certified childcare
- Sleep consolidation patterns from preschool years predicted language development at age 5
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation, only associations between sleep patterns and vocabulary. The findings are from one Canadian cohort (1997-1998) and may not reflect current populations or non-Canadian contexts.
Abstract
Sleep is a key developmental context for receptive vocabulary acquisition during early childhood, yet little is known about how sleep consolidation trajectories are associated with subsequent receptive vocabulary development. This study aimed to identify sleep consolidation trajectories by examining child, maternal, and contextual factors in preschool ages, and testing their associations with receptive vocabulary at age 5. Three sleep consolidation trajectories emerged (n = 1912) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD, 1997/1998): rapid (9.0%), typical (44.4%), and gradual (46.5%), based on daytime and nighttime sleep at 2.5, 3.5, 4 and 5 years of age. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that children in the gradual sleep consolidation trajectory had lower receptive vocabulary scores at age 5 (β = -0.10, 95% CI [-0.16, -0.03]) compared with those in the typical sleep consolidation trajectory. Having an immigrant mother (β = -0.31, 95% CI [-0.40, -0.22]) and receiving care outside certified childcare for children who never or occasionally attended childcare (β = -0.12, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.04]) and for those in relative-based care (β = -0.08, 95% CI [-0.16, -0.002]) were also associated with lower receptive vocabulary scores. Future research should replicate these results in recent cohorts and incorporate neurodevelopmental, and family contextual measures to clarify mechanisms through which the pace of sleep consolidation may influence receptive vocabulary acquisition.