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The Children’s Sleep Comic: Psychometrics of a Self-rating Instrument for Childhood Insomnia

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Abstract

The Children’s Sleep Comic is a standardized self-report questionnaire for assessing insomnia in children ages 5–11 years. The goal of the present study is to introduce a revised version of this measure and to present psychometrics and a cut-off score. Therefore, the revised Children’s Sleep Comic, the Sleep Self Report, the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire, and the Child Behavior Checklist were applied to a sample of 393 children and their parents. Of the parents who participated voluntarily, a subsample (n = 176) was interviewed on the phone to diagnose their children with sleep disorders according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, if applicable. The results indicated that the Children’s Sleep Comic is a reliable self-rating instrument for diagnosing childhood insomnia. Internal consistency was α = 0.83; and convergent and divergent validity were adequate. The child-friendly format can foster a good therapeutic relationship, and thus establish the basis for successful intervention.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the children and parents for taking part in the study and for providing information about their sleep. They gratefully acknowledge the deans of the schools for supporting the study, and wish to thank Kristina Dickhöver, Lea Liebchen, Amelie Schuppan, Martina Loy, and Anna-Lena Schubert for collecting the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany

    Barbara Schwerdtle, Julia Kanis & Andrea Kübler

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Angelika A. Schlarb

Authors
  1. Barbara Schwerdtle
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  2. Julia Kanis
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  3. Andrea Kübler
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  4. Angelika A. Schlarb
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Correspondence to Barbara Schwerdtle.

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Schwerdtle, B., Kanis, J., Kübler, A. et al. The Children’s Sleep Comic: Psychometrics of a Self-rating Instrument for Childhood Insomnia. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 47, 53–63 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-015-0542-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-015-0542-2

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