Socio-demographic variation in sleep difficulties among adolescents in Sweden

Abstract: Psychosomatic health, including sleep, is important for adolescent well-being and daily functioning. Sleep difficulties are more seldom studied per se and whether there is socio-demographic variation in sleep difficulties among adolescents in Sweden is less known. The overall aim of the present study was to examine the frequency and social distribution of sleep difficulties among adolescents in Sweden. The child supplements of the Survey of Living Conditions, a Swedish nationally representative sample of ages 10-18, from years 2002 and 2003 were used (n=2531). Information from adolescents was linked to information from parents in a cross-sectional study design. Based on logistic regression analyses, variation in sleep difficulties was present according to gender, age, family structure, family economy, parent’s unemployment and residential area. No systematic sleep inequality by social class was found in the present study. The main results showed that adolescent girls, older age groups of adolescents, adolescents living in reconstituted families, living in families with a lack of cash margin, having unemployed parents and living in big cities reported sleep difficulties to a greater extent. Social factors, together with biological, psychological and cultural factors interact in explaining the variation in sleep difficulties.