Peer-reviewed article
Social jet lag is associated with core symptoms in 2-3-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders.
Hongyu Chen, Ting Yang, Jie Chen, Yuan Ding, Xueli Xiang et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the relationship between social jet lag (misalignment between biological sleep patterns and social schedules) and autism symptoms in young children with autism spectrum disorder. The researchers found that nearly half of children with autism had sleep problems, with 2-3-year-olds showing the highest rates of insufficient sleep on both weekdays and weekends. In the youngest age group, social jet lag was significantly associated with core autism symptoms, suggesting that irregular sleep schedules may worsen autism-related difficulties.
Key points
- 49.8% of children with ASD had sleep problems, with mean CSHQ total score of 48.04
- 2-3-year-olds had the highest sleep insufficiency rates: 80.77% on weekdays and 82.17% on weekends
- Social jet lag was significantly positively correlated with core autism symptoms in 2-3-year-old children
- Children showed notable differences in sleep patterns between weekdays and weekends, sleeping later and longer on weekends
- Median sleep duration ranged from 9.5-10 hours across age groups, below recommendations for young children
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study, so it cannot establish causation—social jet lag may be a consequence rather than a cause of core autism symptoms. The study does not include a control group of typically developing children, limiting understanding of whether these patterns are specific to autism.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Social jet lag (SJL) is a form of circadian rhythm misalignment caused by the mismatch between social schedules and biological clocks, which is associated with cognition, behavior, and emotion in children. However, social jet lag among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and its impacts are unknown. METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 2-7-year-old children with ASD from special education institutions and outpatient clinics. The Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) assessed children's sleep. SJL was calculated as |weekend sleep midpoint - weekday sleep midpoint|. Sleep adequacy was determined based on the National Sleep Foundation's recommendations. Core symptoms were evaluated using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC). Developmental level was assessed using the Gesell Developmental Scale. RESULTS: 1) The prevalence of sleep problems was 49.8% and the mean CSHQ total score was 48.04 in ASD. There are significant differences in sleep patterns between weekends and weekdays, characterized by later bedtimes, delayed wake-up times, increased total sleep duration, and reduced prevalence of sleep deficiency during weekends. 2) The 2-3-year-old group had the highest rates of sleep insufficiency (80.77% on weekdays; 82.17% on weekends). There were no significant differences in sleep duration across different age groups, with the median sleep duration ranging from 9.5 to 10 hours. 3) Median SJL in each age group was 0.25 h (2-3 years), 0.5 h (3-4 years), 0.42 h (4-5 years), and 0.5 h (≥5 years), respectively. In children aged 2-3 years, SJL was significantly positively correlated with core symptoms 4) SJL was observed to be weakly associated with developmental level of personal-social only in the ≥ 3-year-old group (r = 0.100, P = 0.042). CONCLUSION: Our study found for the first time a correlation between SJL and core symptoms in 2-3-year-old children with ASD. This finding suggests that SJL may have a potentially negative impact on core symptoms in ASD. Therefore, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of regular routines for ASD, especially in younger children.