An Evaluation of the Children's Report of Sleep Patterns Using Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analytic Approaches

Abstract

Objective: To explore the psychometric properties of the Children's Report of Sleep Patterns (CRSP) in school-aged children by conducting a factor analysis of the Sleepiness Scale and the Sleep Disturbances Scales.

Methods: Participants included 155 children from two elementary schools (Mage = 9.82) who completed the self-report CRSP. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using the originally hypothesized structure. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine an alternative factor structure.

Results: CFA revealed that the hypothesized factor structure was not supported. The EFA produced an alternative six-factor solution, which supports the conceptualization of three new scales, Restless Legs Report, Sleep Initiation, and Sleep Maintenance/Night Wakings.

Conclusion: The revised measure adds increased specificity with scales related to insomnia and restless leg symptoms. Researchers and clinicians interested in using the CRSP should continue to assess its validity by exploring the relationship between the measure and objective measures of sleep behavior.

Keywords: assessment; children; sleep; structural equation modeling.