Research indicates that "persistent" sleep terrors—those occurring both before age 4 and continuing beyond age 5—are nearly twice as common in children with a parental history of sleepwalking (32.0% vs. 16.8%). The odds ratio for this association was 2.33, demonstrating a significant correlation between a parental history of sleepwalking and the likelihood of persistent sleep terrors in their children.

State University of New York at Buffalo

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This study examined parental history of sleepwalking in 1051 mothers and 801 fathers when their children were 10 years old. Findings suggest that there is a correlation between parental history of sleepwalking and the occurrence and persistence of sleep terrors in children, with a higher likelihood of persistent sleep terrors in children with parents who have a history of sleepwalking.

Association between Sleep Terrors During Early Childhood and Childhood Sleepwalking Experiment

Correlation Between Parental History of Sleepwalking and Persistent Sleep Terrors in Children

In this study of parental sleepwalking history and childhood sleep terrors, "transient" sleep terrors—defined as episodes that began before age 4 and had ceased by the time of follow-up—occurred less frequently among children whose parents had a history of sleepwalking, in contrast to persistent sleep terrors, which were more common in this group.

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