Abstract
Objectives
The objectives were 2-fold: (1) to examine how high school start times relate to adolescent
sleep duration, and (2) to test associations between sleep duration and mental health–
and substance use–related issues and behaviors in teens.
Design
This study examines selected questions from survey data collected between 2010 and
2013 high school students.
Setting
Respondents included more than 9000 students in grades 9 to 12 in 8 high schools in
5 school districts across the United States.
Measurements
The survey instrument is the 97-item Teen Sleep Habits Survey. Logistic regression models were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence
intervals. Because of clustering within schools and the use of repeated measures,
generalized estimating equations were used to account for variance inflation.
Results
Greater sleep duration was associated with fewer reports of various mental health–
and substance use–related issues and behaviors (all P values <.01). For instance, for each additional hour of sleep reported, there was
a 28% reduction in the adjusted odds of a participant reporting that he or she felt
“unhappy, sad, or depressed.” Later wake-up times were associated with a reduction
in risk for some, but not all factors. Later start times were significantly associated
with greater sleep duration.
Conclusions
Given that later start times allow for greater sleep duration and that adequate sleep
duration is associated with more favorable mental health– and substance use–related
issues and behaviors, it is important that school districts prioritize exploring and
implementing policies, such as delayed start times, that may increase the amount of
sleep of adolescent students, which is needed for their optimal development.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 08, 2017
Accepted:
March 6,
2017
Received:
February 24,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
