Cultural issues in children's sleep: a model for clinical practice.

Sleep is a human behavior that is driven by biological mechanisms, but also shaped and interpreted by cultural values and beliefs. The large diversity among societies and cultures may indicate that one "optimal cultural standard" for children's sleep behavior does not exist. In pediatric care, the interplay between children's biological as well as socioemotional needs and the cultural norms should be carefully considered and evaluated in the context of sleep complaints and behavioral functioning. Recognizing the culture in which children and their families live may eventually lead to better compliance and higher success rates of treatment interventions.