Overview

• Researchers tracked 102 Rhode Island children for a week using wrist-worn accelerometers alongside parent surveys and diaries.
• Despite 83% of parents believing sleep was sufficient, device data showed an average of 8 hours 20 minutes per night versus parent reports of over 9.5 hours.
• Children were awake about 38 minutes nightly, while parents estimated fewer than five minutes.
• Disparities emerged: only 4.4% of Latino children met guidelines compared with 22.8% of non-Latino peers, with Latino children averaging roughly eight hours.
• Authors cautioned that wrist devices can overestimate sleep and urged better clinician–family communication plus routine-based steps like consistent bedtimes and limiting screens near bedtime.