Actigraphic sleep and cortisol in middle childhood: A multivariate behavioral genetics model.

ABSTRACT: To date, behavioral genetic studies investigated either sleep or cortisol levels in middle childhood, but not both simultaneously. Therefore, a pertinent question is the degree to which genetic factors and environmental factor contribute to the correlation between sleep and cortisol levels. To address this question, we employed the classical twin design. We measured sleep in 6-9-year-old twins (N = 436 twin pairs, "Together Unique" study) over four consecutive nights using actigraphy, and we measured morning cortisol on two consecutive days. Sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and wake episodes were used as indicators of sleep. Morning cortisol level was used as cortisol indicator. A structural equation model was fitted to estimate the contribution of additive genetic effects (A), shared (co

SUBMITTER: Runze J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9216557 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature