Cross-cultural differences in infant and toddler sleep

BACKGROUND:
To characterize cross-cultural sleep patterns and sleep problems in a large sample of children ages birth to 36 months in multiple predominantly-Asian (P-A) and predominantly-Caucasian (P-C) countries.

METHODS:
Parents of 29,287 infants and toddlers (predominantly-Asian countries/regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam; predominantly-Caucasian countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States) completed an internet-based expanded version of the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire.

RESULTS:
Overall, children from P-A countries had significantly later bedtimes, shorter total sleep times, increased parental perception of sleep problems, and were more likely to both bed-share and room-share than children from P-C countries, p