Taxometric analysis of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire

Sleep problems are widespread among children and have a high rate of comorbidities including numerous psychiatric disorders. However, it is still unclear whether sleep problems are dimensional or categorical phenomena. Knowing the latent structure of child sleep problems is imperative for several reasons. Our present study seeks to use taxometric procedures to examine the latent structure of sleep problems measured by the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). We applied three taxometric procedures (maximum eigenvalue, mean above minus below a cut and latent-mode factor analysis) to data collected from a nonclinical Chinese sample of children, aged 6 to 12 from primary schools in Shenzhen. Results revealed three main factors attributed to the types of sleep problems; F1 (bad sleep habit), F2 (problems about sleep disorders), F3 (problems about sleep time and daytime napping). From our findings, we were able to show that the latent structure of sleep problems is better categorized as dimensional rather than categorical. Comprehensive findings, implications, and limitations are discussed throughout this article.