Development and Validation of a Pediatric Insomnia Composite

Abstract

Insomnia affects approximately 20-30% of children with consequences on daytime functioning, academic performance, social functioning, and quality of life. Insomnia is a multifaceted construct with symptoms including difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking too early. The aim of this thesis was to develop and validate a sleep diary-derived composite outcome of childhood insomnia for future treatment studies. To this end, the Pediatric Insomnia Composite (PIC) was developed and this secondary data analysis explored the psychometric properties of the PIC on a sample of 377 typically developing children aged 1 to 10 years who met criteria for insomnia. Our results indicated that the PIC has adequate construct validity and a factor structure that mapped onto the three expressions of insomnia symptoms. However, more work is needed to strengthen the internal consistency of PIC factors before implementing it in research, and potentially using this composite in clinical settings.