| Normative biological, psychological, and social changes that occur during adolescence contribute to insufficient sleep time, irregular sleep schedules, and sleepiness in teenagers. Such negative changes in sleep may lead to psychosocial consequences such as depressed mood and behavior problems, and in fact this has been demonstrated in adults and in school age children. Although there are few empirical studies of the effects of poor sleep or sleepiness on psychological functioning in adolescents; the number of teens reporting sleep problems and the potential impact of those problems suggest that research is warranted. The current study investigated whether an association between sleep time, sleepiness, and specific aspects of psychological functioning was present in adolescents. This study had several methodological advantages over previous investigations of adolescent sleep including the use of actigraphy (an objective measure of sleep time), multiple measures and reporters of adolescent psychological functioning, the use of Tanner staging to determine pubertal status, and the use of path analysis. The 208 study participants were part of a larger population-based cohort study of sleep and health, the Cleveland Children's Sleep and Health Study (CCSHS), and were between the vi ages of 13-16. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that pubertal status, minority status, sex, body mass index (BMI), preterm status, parent income, and parent education would relate to mean total sleep time, variability in sleep time, and sleepiness. It was also hypothesized that less mean total sleep time, more variability in sleep time, and more sleepiness would be associated with higher scores on measures of anxiety, depression, externalizing behaviors, and perceptions of poor health. Results were that higher BMI (p<.001), minority status (p<.05), and male sex (p<.005) predicted less total sleep time. Higher BMI (p<.001), minority status (p<.005), and older age (p<001) predicted more variability in sleep time and higher BMI (p<01) and minority status (p<.001) also predicted more sleepiness. Higher self-reported sleepiness scores predicted higher scores on measures of anxiety (p<.001), depression (p<01), and perceived health (p<001); however other relationships between sleep variables and psychological variables were not found. |
