The Relationship Between ADHD Symptom Severity and Sleep Disturbance Using Accelerometer and the Subjective Sleep Disturbance Scale

Our study shows that increased severity of ADHD symptoms is associated with worse sleep disturbance as measured by subjective parent reports; however, there is a very weak relationship between ADHD symptoms and objectively measured total sleep duration. The contrasting results are consistent with prior literature, and could be due to unmeasured variables such as deep sleep percentage or non-REM EEG delta wave power that are not captured by actigraphy. Alternatively, there is the possibility of mono-informant bias, as both the CBCL and SDSC are parent-reported, and parents may perceive relationship between worse ADHD symptoms and worse sleep disturbances, though the difference is objectively negligible.