Objective To analyze sleep characteristics of children aged 6 − 8 in three urban areas of Shandong Province and explore influencing factors associated with poor sleep quality, so as to provide evidence for further improvement of children’s sleep quality.

Methods A total of 1 149 1^st and 2^nd grade children from three regions(Qingdao, Jining, and Linyi) at different economic levels in Shandong Province were recruited in 2022. Physical measurement, general information questionnaire survey, Children’s Sleep Health Questionnaire (CSHQ) survey, and Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) survey were conducted. Finally, 1 104 children with complete information were ultimately involved in the study. Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the factors associated with their poor sleep quality.

Results The average sleep time of the research cases was 9.41 (9.07, 9.79) hours, with 81.51% having insufficient sleep time and 73.64% having poor sleep quality. There were statistically significant differences between the group with poor sleep quality and the normal group in terms of age, feeding mods, duration of moderate to high-intensity physical activity, family structure, and total CEBQ score (all P < 0.05). The duration of moderate to high-intensity physical activity < 1 hour (OR = 2.301, P = 0.003), 31 < total CEBQ score ≤ 41.5(OR = 2.004, P < 0.001), 41.5 < total CEBQ score ≤ 52 (OR = 2.541, P < 0.001), 52 < total CEBQ score ≤ 106(OR=4.050, P < 0.001), and reorganized families (OR = 0.169, P = 0.049) were factors associated with poor sleep quality.

Conclusion The sleep problems of school children aged 6 − 8 in the three urban areas of Shandong Province are still challenging, and attention should be paid to the impact of moderate to high-intensity physical activity, dietary behavior, and family structure on children’s sleep.