Sleep Pattern Research Paper

ADHD and Sleep Patterns The purpose of this research is to explore the sleep patterns of children with ADHD symptoms that have been reported by parents. The hypothesis according to O’Brien et al. (2003, p. 334) is that “domains of neurobehavioral function would be selectively affected by sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).” The null hypothesis according to this research is that multiple sleep disorders are more relevant in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, symptoms. Some of the disorders are: obstructive sleep apnea, snoring, spontaneous arousals, rapid eye movement, and periodic limb movements.
Data Collection The data used for this research was collected by O’Brien et al. (2003) using various methods. Questionnaires were distributed to the parents who were enrolling children into first grade. Out of the 11,983 surveys distributed, a total of 5,728 usable responses were available to sample, a total of 47.6%. From these samples, the researchers found that 11.7% of the children were reported snore often, and 7.3% of those children who snored were reported by parents to have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.
(2003) selected 83 children whose parents had reported them to show symptoms of ADHD to receive a sleep evaluation in a medical center, along with a control sample of 34 children with no reported signs of ADHD. After conducting the sleep tests, O’Brien et al. (2003) reported that 5% of “children with significant ADHD symptoms, and 7% of children with mild symptoms” (p. 557) had high periodic limb movements. It was also found that rapid eye movement was more prevalent in the high-symptom ADHD group. According to the study, “5% of children with significant ADHD symptoms, and 26% of those with mild symptoms” had indications of sleep apnea (O’Brien, 2003, p.