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Impact of changing school start times on parent sleep
Abstract
Objective:
To examine the impact of changing school start times on sleep in parents of students in elementary, middle, and high school.
Methods:
Annual surveys were completed by parents of K-12 students (n = 8190-10,592 per year) before (pre-change) and for 2 years (post-change, follow-up) after implementation of new school start times (elementary school [ES]: 60 minutes earlier, middle school [MS]: 40-60 minutes later, high school [HS]: 70 minutes later), providing parent self-reported weekday bedtime and wake time, sleep quality, and feeling tired.
Results:
Significant level-by-year interactions were found for parent bedtime, wake time, and sleep duration (all p < .0001). Post hoc analyses show ES parents reporting earlier bedtimes and wake times at post-change, with no change in sleep duration, while MS and HS parents reported later post-change wake times. Post-change, more MS and HS parents reported sufficient sleep duration (p < .0001) and good sleep quality (p < .0001), with fewer HS parents reporting feeling tired (p < .0001).
Conclusions:
This is the first study to consider the impact of a policy change aimed at improving child sleep on parent sleep. Healthy school start times has a significantly positive downstream effect on secondary school parents' sleep and daytime functioning, with minimal impact reported by parents of elementary school students.
... Later school start times also have the potential to positively impact other members in the family. For example, a recent study showed that parents' sleep-wake patterns also changed with the implementation of later middle and high school start times [108]. Specifically, later school start times were associated with greater number of parents obtaining sufficient sleep, as well as greater sleep quality of parents of adolescents. ...
Purpose of Review
Poor sleep health in adolescence has long-lasting, and adverse effects on many aspects of health and functioning. Multiple factors impact sleep in adolescence including individual and family-level factors. However, early school start times are the one policy-level, and possibly the most salient environmental factor that constrains adolescent sleep at a population level.
Recent Findings
Delaying school start times could be an effective strategy to promote sleep health and consequently, functioning, and physical and mental health among adolescents. Growing evidence suggests that adolescents at later-starting schools sleep longer on weekdays, have higher attendance and graduation rates, and fewer mental health symptoms compared to their peers at earlier-starting schools.
Summary
This paper reviews a summary of recent key findings and discusses future steps in translating the school start time research into policy.
... It seems that being able to set working hours according to one's preference enhances the sleep quality and quantity of evening-type adults [59]. Moreover, delaying school start times may increase the sleep duration of children and their parents [60][61][62], but more studies on this topic are needed. ...
Child eveningness has been associated with many adverse outcomes for children. The aim of this study was to assess whether child eveningness poses a risk to parental sleep quality in follow-up. A total of 146 children (57% adopted, 47% boys, mean age at follow-up 5.1 years [standard deviation 1.7]) completed a 1-week actigraph recording to analyze their sleep twice, 1 year apart. The parents completed the Child ChronoType Questionnaire for their child and a short version of the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire for themselves and the Jenkins Sleep Scale for their sleep quality. Linear regression analyses showed that subjective parental sleeping problems at baseline were associated with subjective parental sleeping problems at follow-up. A morning-type child decreased the risk of parental sleeping problems at the 1-year follow-up compared to the child evening chronotype. Additionally, the child intermediate chronotype decreased the risk of maternal sleeping problems at the 1-year follow-up compared to the evening chronotype of the child. Parents of evening-type children experienced more sleeping problems in the follow-up, compared to parents of morning-type children. This finding encourages parents and professionals to steer the diurnal rhythm of evening-type children toward an earlier daily routine.
Two proposed public policies, ending seasonal clock change with a transition to permanent Standard Time and moving middle school and high school start times later, are population-based initiatives to improve sleep health. Daylight Saving Time and early school start times are associated with reduced sleep duration and increased circadian misalignment, the effects of which impact not only long-term health outcomes including obesity, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, and cancer, but also mental health, academics, workforce productivity, and safety outcomes. This article highlights studies that led to the endorsement of these public policies by multiple scientific and medical organizations. Neurologists should advocate at the state and federal levels and educate the population about the importance of sleep health.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of how physical exercise and sleep can affect brain function in ways that are important for everyone, but especially after surviving trauma. The role of physical exercise on cognitive function, aging, and mental health is addressed in addition to physical activity for children and implications for future research and public policy on physical exercise. Links are described between exercise, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), irisin, epigenetics, and aging and brain health. Links are addressed between physical activity and sleep, in addition to the impact of sleep on the brain, ideal nightly sleep duration at different ages throughout the life course, sleep in youths, the significant impact of school start time, epigenetics, and links between religion, spirituality, forgiveness, and sleep are discussed here. Sleep hygiene pragmatics are also described in addition to directions for future research.KeywordsPhysical exercisePhysical activityPhysical exercise and cognitive functionPhysical exercise and mental healthPhysical activity for childrenIrisinEpigeneticsTelomerePhysical activity and sleepSleep and the brainIdeal nightly sleep durationSleep in youthsSchool start times and sleepReligionSpiritualityForgiveness and sleepSleep hygiene
Study objectives:
To examine the impact of changing school start times on sleep for primary (elementary school: ES) and secondary (middle and high school: MS/HS) students.
Methods:
Students (grades 3-12) and parents (grades K-12) were surveyed annually, before and for 2 years after school start time changes (ES: 60 min earlier, MS: 40-60 min later; HS: 70 min later). Student sleep and daytime sleepiness were measured with school-administered student surveys and parent-proxy online surveys.
Results:
Approximately 28,000 students annually completed surveys (~55% White, ~21% free/reduced lunch [FRL]). One-year post-change, weekday bedtimes and wake times were slightly earlier for ES students, with an 11-min decrease in sleep duration. MS and HS students reported slightly later weekday bedtimes, significantly later wake times, and significantly longer sleep duration (MS: 29 min; HS: 45 min). The percent of ES students reporting sufficient sleep duration, poor sleep quality, or daytime sleepiness did not change, but the percent of MS and HS students reporting sufficient sleep duration significantly increased and clinically significant daytime sleepiness decreased. All results were maintained at the 2-year follow-up. Benefits of later start times were similar across racial and free/reduced lunch groups.
Conclusions:
This is the first large scale, longitudinal, and representative study to concurrently examine the impact of changing school start times across students in primary/secondary school. Findings suggest a minimal impact of earlier start times on ES students' sleep or daytime sleepiness, while further supporting the significant benefits of delaying MS and HS start times on student sleep and daytime sleepiness.
Importance
Sleep is a resource that has been associated with health and well-being; however, sleep insufficiency is common among adolescents.
Objective
To examine how delaying school start time is associated with objectively assessed sleep duration, timing, and quality in a cohort of adolescents.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This observational cohort study took advantage of district-initiated modifications in the starting times of 5 public high schools in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota. A total of 455 students were followed up from grade 9 (May 3 to June 3, 2016) through grade 11 (March 15 to May 21, 2018). Data were analyzed from February 1 to July 24, 2019.
Exposures
All 5 participating schools started early (7:30 am or 7:45 am) at baseline (2016). At follow-up 1 (2017) and continuing through follow-up 2 (2018), 2 schools delayed their start times by 50 and 65 minutes, whereas 3 comparison schools started at 7:30 am throughout the observation period.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Wrist actigraphy was used to derive indices of sleep duration, timing, and quality. With a difference-in-difference design, linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate differences in changes in sleep time between delayed-start and comparison schools.
Results
A total of 455 students were included in the analysis (among those identifying sex, 225 girls [49.5%] and 219 boys [48.1%]; mean [SD] age at baseline, 15.2 [0.3] years). Relative to the change observed in the comparison schools, students who attended delayed-start schools had an additional mean 41 (95% CI, 25-57) objectively measured minutes of night sleep at follow-up 1 and 43 (95% CI, 25-61) at follow-up 2. Delayed start times were not associated with falling asleep later on school nights at follow-ups, and students attending these schools had a mean difference-in-differences change in weekend night sleep of −24 (95% CI, −51 to 2) minutes from baseline to follow-up 1 and −34 (95% CI, −65 to −3) minutes from baseline to follow-up 2, relative to comparison school participants. Differences in differences for school night sleep onset, weekend sleep onset latency, sleep midpoints, sleep efficiency, and the sleep fragmentation index between the 2 conditions were minimal.
Conclusions and Relevance
This study found that delaying high school start times could extend adolescent school night sleep duration and lessen their need for catch-up sleep on weekends. These findings suggest that later start times could be a durable strategy for addressing population-wide adolescent sleep deficits.
Objective:
Childhood sleep problems are associated with insufficient parental sleep and adverse maternal mental health symptoms, which may be exacerbated when mothers/toddlers co-sleep (i.e., bed/room sharing). This study examines maternal sleep duration as a mechanism linking perceived toddler sleep problems with maternal mental health and examines whether these associations vary by co-sleeping, in addition to exploring alternative models.
Methods:
Low-income mothers of toddlers (n = 280) (age 12-32 months) recruited from Women, Infants, and Children and pediatric clinics provided demographic information and completed questionnaires on their toddler's sleep and their own sleep duration and mental health symptoms (depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress). Indirect and conditional indirect models were conducted to examine the relation between perceived toddler sleep problems and maternal mental health.
Results:
Perceived toddler sleep problems were associated with an average decrease of 51 minutes in maternal sleep when co-sleeping (mean = 6.1 h). Maternal sleep duration mediated the relation between perceived toddler sleep problems and maternal symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress for co-sleeping mothers. Maternal sleep duration did not mediate relations between maternal mental health symptoms and perceived toddler sleep problems.
Conclusion:
This study provides a conceptual model by which parent and child sleep is related to parental mental health. Practitioners might consider alternatives to co-sleeping when discussing sleep arrangements with parents. Future studies should replicate results longitudinally and examine whether reducing co-sleeping improves maternal sleep duration and reduces perceptions of toddler sleep problems.
ABSTRACT: Sleep is essential for optimal health. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and Sleep Research Society (SRS) developed a consensus recommendation for the amount of sleep needed to promote optimal health in adults, using a modified RAND Appropriateness Method process. The recommendation is summarized here. A manuscript detailing the conference proceedings and evidence supporting the final recommendation statement will be published in SLEEP and the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Sleep is essential for optimal health. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and Sleep Research Society (SRS) developed a consensus recommendation for the amount of sleep needed to promote optimal health in adults, using a modified RAND Appropriateness Method process. The recommendation is summarized here. A manuscript detailing the conference proceedings and evidence supporting the final recommendation statement will be published in SLEEP and the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
© 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.
Early high school start times may contribute to insufficient sleep leading to increased teen crash rate. Virginia Beach (VB) and Chesapeake are adjacent, demographically similar cities. VB high schools start 75-80 minutes earlier than Chesapeake's. We hypothesized that VB teens would manifest a higher crash rate than Chesapeake teens.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provided de-identified, aggregate 2008 and 2007 data for weekday crashes and crash times in VB and Chesapeake for drivers aged 16-18 years ("teens"), and provided 2008 and 2007 crash data for all drivers. Data allowed comparisons of VB versus Chesapeake crash rates for teens (overall and hour-by-hour), and teens versus all other ages. We compared AM and PM traffic congestion (peak hours) in the two cities.
In 2008, there were 12,916 and 8,459 Virginia Beach and Chesapeake 16- to 18-year-old drivers, respectively. For VB and Chesapeake, teen drivers' crash rates in 2008 were 65.8/1000 and 46.6/1000 (p < 0.001), respectively, and in 2007 were 71.2/1000 and 55.6/1000. Teen drivers' crash peaks in the morning occurred one hour earlier in VB than Chesapeake, consistent with school commute time. Congestion data for VB and Chesapeake did not explain the different crash rates.
A significantly increased teen crash rate for both 2008 and 2007 occurred in VB, the city with earlier high school start times. Future studies using individual level data may clarify if sleep restriction, circadian dyssynchrony, and sleep inertia might contribute to this increased crash rate.
To develop an archive of self-report questions assessing sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairments (SRI), to develop item banks from this archive, and to validate and calibrate the item banks using classic validation techniques and item response theory analyses in a sample of clinical and community participants.
Cross-sectional self-report study.
Academic medical center and participant homes.
One thousand nine hundred ninety-three adults recruited from an Internet polling sample and 259 adults recruited from medical, psychiatric, and sleep clinics.
None.
This study was part of PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Information System), a National Institutes of Health Roadmap initiative. Self-report item banks were developed through an iterative process of literature searches, collecting and sorting items, expert content review, qualitative patient research, and pilot testing. Internal consistency, convergent validity, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were examined in the resulting item banks. Factor analyses identified 2 preliminary item banks, sleep disturbance and SRI. Item response theory analyses and expert content review narrowed the item banks to 27 and 16 items, respectively. Validity of the item banks was supported by moderate to high correlations with existing scales and by significant differences in sleep disturbance and SRI scores between participants with and without sleep disorders.
The PROMIS sleep disturbance and SRI item banks have excellent measurement properties and may prove to be useful for assessing general aspects of sleep and SRI with various groups of patients and interventions.
To examine the relationships between parental set bedtimes, sleep duration, and depression as a quasi-experiment to explore the potentially bidirectional relationship between short sleep duration and depression. Short sleep duration has been shown to precede depression, but this could be explained as a prodromal symptom of depression. Depression in an adolescent can affect his/her chosen bedtime, but it is less likely to affect a parent's chosen set bedtime which can establish a relatively stable upper limit that can directly affect sleep duration.
Multivariate cross-sectional analyses of the ADD Health using logistic regression.
United States nationally representative, school-based, probability-based sample in 1994-96.
Adolescents (n = 15,659) in grades 7 to 12.
Adolescents with parental set bedtimes of midnight or later were 24% more likely to suffer from depression (OR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.04-1.49) and 20% more likely to have suicidal ideation (1.20, 1.01-1.41) than adolescents with parental set bedtimes of 10:00 PM or earlier, after controlling for covariates. Consistent with sleep duration and perception of getting enough sleep acting as mediators, the inclusion of these variables in the multivariate models appreciably attenuated the associations for depression (1.07, 0.88-1.30) and suicidal ideation (1.09, 0.92-1.29).
The results from this study provide new evidence to strengthen the argument that short sleep duration could play a role in the etiology of depression. Earlier parental set bedtimes could therefore be protective against adolescent depression and suicidal ideation by lengthening sleep duration.
To assess the effects of delayed high-school start times on sleep and motor vehicle crashes.
The sleep habits and motor vehicle crash rates of adolescents from a single, large, county-wide, school district were assessed by questionnaire before and after a 1-hour delay in school start times.
Average hours of nightly sleep increased and catch-up sleep on weekends decreased. Average crash rates for teen drivers in the study county in the 2 years after the change in school start time dropped 16.5%, compared with the 2 years prior to the change, whereas teen crash rates for the rest of the state increased 7.8% over the same time period.
Later school start times may both increase the sleep of adolescents and decrease their risk of motor vehicle crashes.
In 2014, Buysse published a novel definition of sleep health, raising awareness for the importance of this construct for individuals, populations, clinical care, and research. However, the original definition focused on adults, with the recommendation that it should be adapted for children and adolescents. As children live within a complex and dynamic system, and may not always have control over their own sleep, this theoretical review will examine and apply Buysse’s five dimensions of sleep health within the context of pediatrics. In addition, using examples from the pediatric sleep literature we introduce a modified definition that takes into consideration the influence of the socio-ecological system within which children live, and the sleep-related behaviors that are critical in supporting or hindering sleep health. Finally, we discuss how the proposed theoretical framework, Peds B-SATED, can be applied to clinical practice, research, and training in the field of pediatric sleep.
The misalignment between the circadian rhythms of adolescents and the starting time of secondary schools has been a concern for nearly 40 years. Medical research in the 1980s and 1990s revealed that the circadian phase delay during puberty was in direct conflict with most secondary school schedules. Then, as now, the majority of secondary schools in the United States have start times before 8 a.m. Teens who get less than the recommended amount of 8½ to 9¼ hours of sleep nightly are therefore viewed as a high-risk group for problematic sleepiness. Sleep-deprived adolescents are at significant risk for negative outcomes, including drug and alcohol use, depression and suicidal ideation, poor impulse control, reduced academic performance, and drowsy driving. This chapter provides an overview of the research history for how the later school start time movement began, the associated knowledge base to date, and a discussion as to the lack of combined medical and educational research. It concludes with emerging medical research into adolescent sleep and highlights the educational policy issues and later start time research that remain unresolved.
Study objectives:
The aim of this study was to examine the association between a 50 minute delay (7:20am to 8:10am) in high school start times in Fairfax County (FC) Virginia (VA) and changes in rates of adolescent motor vehicle crashes. Crash rates in FC were also compared to those in the rest of the state during the same time period.
Methods:
VA Department of Motor Vehicles crash data in 16-18 year old drivers between September and June of each year in FC versus the rest of the state were compared in the combined two year periods preceding (2013-14 and 2014-15; T1) and following (2015-16 and 2016-17; T2) school start time change in the fall of 2015.
Results:
The crash rate per 1000 in 16-18 year old licensed drivers in FC during T1 was significantly higher compared to T2, 31.63 vs 29.59 accidents per 1000 (95% CI, 1.0-1.14, OR 1.07, P=0.03). In contrast, adolescent crash rates in the rest of Virginia were not statistically significantly different at T1 vs T2. With regards to subtypes of crashes, there was a trend towards significance in distraction-related crashes per 1000 in FC at T1 compared to T2 at 7.01 vs 6.13 (95% CI, 0.99-1.31, OR 1.14, P=0.05), but were not significantly different in the remainder of the state.
Conclusions:
The results of this study suggest that school start time delay is associated with decreased adolescent motor vehicle crash risk, with significant implications for public health and safety.
Despite growing evidence of the positive impact of later school start times on adolescent health and academic outcomes, relatively few districts have changed start times due to concerns about transportation, child care, and athletics/extracurricular activities. This paper provides a case study of the Cherry Creek School District's (CCSD) successful efforts to change start times. The CCSD is a diverse district with an enrollment of almost 55,000 students in suburban Denver. As part of CCSD's strategic plan, a multi-disciplinary task force was formed to examine the impact of start times on student achievement, and recommend a start time schedule driven by best practices on adolescent sleep patterns, balanced with family and community needs. Over 18 months the task force's work included engaging the community through meetings, as well as conducting a large survey (n = 24,574) of parents, teachers, and students, and gathering online feedback. An iterative process utilized feedback at every stage to refine the final recommendation given to the Board of Education. Survey results, implementation considerations, outcome evaluation plans, and lessons learned are discussed.
Objective
To determine whether simultaneous school start time changes (delay for some schools; advance for others) impact adolescents' sleep.
Design
Quasi-experimental study using cross-sectional surveys before and after changes to school start times in September 2015.
Setting
Eight middle (grades 7-8), 3 secondary (grades 7-12), and 8 high (grades 9-12) schools in Fairfax County (Virginia) public schools.
Participants
A total of 2017 (6% of ~34,900) students were surveyed before start time changes, and 1180 (3% of ~35,300) were surveyed after.
Intervention
A 50-minute delay (7:20 to 8:10 am) in start time for high schools and secondary schools and a 30-minute advance (8:00 to 7:30 am) for middle schools.
Measurements
Differences before and after start time changes in self-reported sleep duration and daytime sleepiness.
Results
Among respondents, 57.5% were non-Hispanic white, and 10.3% received free or reduced-priced school meals. Before start time changes, high/secondary and middle school students slept a mean (SD) of 7.4 (1.2) and 8.4 (1.0) hours on school nights, respectively, and had a prevalence of daytime sleepiness of 78.4% and 57.2%, respectively. Adjusted for potential confounders, students with a 50-minute delay slept 30.1 minutes longer (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.3-36.0) on school nights and had less daytime sleepiness (−4.8%; 95% CI, −8.5% to −1.1%), whereas students with a 30-minute advance slept 14.8 minutes less (95% CI, −21.6 to −8.0) and had more daytime sleepiness (8.0%; 95% CI, 2.5%-13.5%).
Conclusions
Both advances and delays in school start times are associated with changes in adolescents' school-night sleep duration and daytime sleepiness. Larger changes might occur with later start times.
Sleep is a pivotal correlate and predictor of many domains of child development, including socioemotional adjustment, physical health, and cognitive functioning. The family plays a major role in shaping children's sleep–wake behaviors, and developmental research on children's sleep in a family context is on the rise. As in any relatively young field, many gaps and questions remain. In this article, we aim to advance this literature by illustrating ways to examine the interconnections between family functioning and children's sleep. We also call for increasing conceptual developments and testing of transactional models, using well-established and psychometrically sound objective and subjective measures, and expanding both the family functioning domains and sleep parameters assessed.
Objectives
The first purpose of this study was to investigate changes in high school graduation rates with a delayed school start time of later than 8:30 am. The second aim of the study was to analyze the association between a delayed high school start time later than 8:30 am and attendance rates.
Design
In the current study, a pre-post design using a repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to examine changes in attendance and graduation rates 2 years after a delayed start was implemented.
Setting
Public high schools from 8 school districts (n = 29 high schools) located throughout 7 different states. Schools were identified using previous research from the Children's National Medical Center's Division of Sleep Medicine Research Team.
Participants and measurements
A total membership of more than 30,000 high school students enrolled in the 29 schools identified by the Children's National Medical Center's Research Team. A pre-post design was used for a within-subject design, controlling for any school-to-school difference in the calculation of the response variable. This is the recommended technique for a study that may include data with potential measurement error.
Results
Findings from this study linked a start time of later than 8:30 am to improved attendance rates and graduation rates.
Conclusions
Attendance rates and graduation rates significantly improved in schools with delayed start times of 8:30 am or later. School officials need to take special notice that this investigation also raises questions about whether later start times are a mechanism for closing the achievement gap due to improved graduation rates.
The current study examined within-family relations between mothers’, fathers’, and children's objectively assessed sleep. Participants were 163 children (Mage = 10.45 years; SD = 0.62) and their parents. For 7 nights, families wore actigraphs to assess sleep duration (minutes), quality (efficiency, long wake episode, total wake minutes), and schedule (wake time). A sleep log assessed bedtime. Multilevel models indicated that children's sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, wake minutes, and wake time were associated with fluctuations in their mothers’, but not fathers’, sleep that same night. The duration and quality of mothers’ sleep was associated with both fathers’ and children's sleep that night, whereas fathers’ sleep was positively associated with only mothers’ sleep. Findings highlight the importance of examining sleep within a family context.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation's middle and high school students. Although a number of factors, including biological changes in sleep associated with puberty, lifestyle choices, and academic demands, negatively affect middle and high school students' ability to obtain sufficient sleep, the evidence strongly implicates earlier school start times (ie, before 8: 30 AM) as a key modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep, as well as circadian rhythm disruption, in this population. Furthermore, a substantial body of research has now demonstrated that delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports the efforts of school districts to optimize sleep in students and urges high schools and middle schools to aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep (8.5-9.5 hours) and to improve physical (eg, reduced obesity risk) and mental (eg, lower rates of depression) health, safety (eg, drowsy driving crashes), academic performance, and quality of life.
Literature on sleep and child development is growing rapidly in exciting new directions across several disciplines and with this comes a need for guiding conceptual principles and methodological tools. In this introductory chapter, the importance of sleep for child development across multiple domains is highlighted. The aims of this monograph are presented and pertain to the need to consider and integrate theory and research across multiple disciplines and use state-of-the-art methodologies. A developmental ecological systems perspective adapted to sleep illustrates the multiple levels of influence and their importance in the study of child sleep and development. A focal aim is to provide examples of longitudinal studies linking sleep with child development, which are presented in seven chapters of this volume.
© 2015 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
To assess the daily concordance between parent and adolescent daily sleep habits, how that concordance compares to other predictors of sleep, and whether the degree of concordance varies across families.
A total of 421 adolescents (Mage = 15.03 years) and their primary caregivers (Mage = 41.93 years) reported their sleep, bed, and wake times on a daily basis for a 2-week period. Approximately 80% of the sample repeated the same protocol 1 year later.
Multilevel modeling indicated a significant concordance between parent and adolescent sleep, bed, and wake times on a daily basis. Concordance existed independent of other predictors of sleep such as day of the week and adolescent study time. Larger families and those with higher levels of parent-adolescent support exhibited greater concordance.
Adolescent sleep is connected to the sleep habits of their parents, above and beyond commonly known structural and experiential factors that can shape teenage sleep. Efforts to improve teenage sleep should pay greater attention to the sleep patterns of parents and potentially other family members.
Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In the early 1990s, medical research found that teenagers have biologically different sleep and wake patterns than the preadolescent or adult population. On the basis of that information, in 1997 the seven comprehensive high schools in the Minneapolis Public School District shifted the school start timefrom 7:15 a. m. to 8:40 a. m. This article examines that change, finding significant benefits such as improved attendance and enrollment rates, less sleeping in class, and less student-reported depression. Policy implications are briefly discussed, acknowledging this to be a highly charged issue in school districts across the United States.
Background and objective:
Early high school start times (EHSST) may lead to sleep loss in adolescents ("teens"), thus resulting in higher crash rates. (Vorona et al., 2011). In this study, we examined two other adjacent Virginia counties for the two years subsequent to the above-mentioned study. We again hypothesized that teens from jurisdictions with EHSST (versus later) experience higher crash rates.
Methods:
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles supplied de-identified aggregate data on weekday crashes and time-of-day for 16-18 year old (teen) and adult drivers for school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 in Henrico and Chesterfield Counties. Teen crash rates for counties with early versus later school start-times were compared using two-sample Z-tests and these compared to adult crash rates using pair-wise tests.
Results:
Henrico teens manifested a statistically higher crash rate of 48.8/1000 licensed drivers versus Chesterfield's 37.9/1000 (p = 0.04) for 2009-2010. For 2010-2011, HC 16-17 year old teens demonstrated a statistically significant higher crash rate (53.2/1000 versus 42.0/1000), while for 16-18 teens a similar trend was found, albeit nonsignificant (p = 0.09). Crash peaks occurred 1 hour earlier in the morning and 2 hours earlier in the afternoon in Chesterfield, consistent with commute times. Post hoc analyses found significantly more run-off road crashes to the right (potentially sleep-related) in Chesterfield teens. Adult crash rates and traffic congestion did not differ between counties.
Conclusions:
Higher teen crash rates occurred in jurisdictions with EHSST, as in our prior study. This study contributes to and extends existing data on preventable teen crashes and high school start times.
Chronic sleep loss and associated sleepiness and daytime impairments in adolescence are a serious threat to the academic success, health, and safety of our nation's youth and an important public health issue. Understanding the extent and potential short- and long-term repercussions of sleep restriction, as well as the unhealthy sleep practices and environmental factors that contribute to sleep loss in adolescents, is key in setting public policies to mitigate these effects and in counseling patients and families in the clinical setting. This report reviews the current literature on sleep patterns in adolescents, factors contributing to chronic sleep loss (ie, electronic media use, caffeine consumption), and health-related consequences, such as depression, increased obesity risk, and higher rates of drowsy driving accidents. The report also discusses the potential role of later school start times as a means of reducing adolescent sleepiness.
Chronic insufficient sleep is a growing concern among adolescents and is associated with a host of adverse health consequences. Early school start times may be an environmental contributor to this problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a delay in school start time on sleep patterns, sleepiness, mood, and health-related outcomes.
Boarding students (n = 197, mean age = 15.6 yr) attending an independent high school completed the School Sleep Habits Survey before and after the school start time was experimentally delayed from 8:00 a.m. to 8:25 a.m.
The delay in school start time was associated with a significant (29 min) increase in sleep duration on school nights. The percentage of students receiving 8 or more hours of sleep on a school night increased to more than double, from 18% to 44%. Students in 9th and 10th grade and those with lower baseline sleep amounts were more likely to report improvements in sleep duration after the schedule change. Daytime sleepiness, depressed mood, and caffeine use were all significantly reduced after the delay in school start time. Sleep duration reverted to baseline levels when the original (earlier) school start time was reinstituted.
A modest (25 min) delay in school start time was associated with significant improvements in sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, mood, and caffeine use. These findings have important implications for public policy and add to research suggesting the health benefits of modifying school schedules to more closely align with adolescents' circadian rhythms and sleep needs.
Sleep and well‐being of adolescents and their parents are related, but data from non‐Western countries are scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between adolescents' and their parents' sleep patterns and psychological functioning in northeastern Iran.
A total of 81 families (81 mothers, 78 fathers, 130 children aged 12–20 years) took part in the study. They individually and separately completed questionnaires related to sleep and psychological functioning.
Sleep quality was related within families. Poor sleep among children and parents was related in each case to more depressive symptoms and stress. Mothers' sleep and psychological functioning were more related to adolescent children's sleep and psychological functioning than were those of fathers.
Results confirm research showing that adolescent's and parents' sleep and psychological functioning are inter‐related. This association holds also true for families in northeastern Iran, suggesting that the association reflects universal features of family functioning.
To determine the proportion of adolescents whose bedtime is set by their parents and to evaluate whether parent-set bedtimes are associated with earlier bedtimes, more sleep, and better daytime functioning.
385 adolescents aged 13-18 years (mean = 15.6, SD = 0.95; 60% male) from 8 socioeconomically diverse schools in South Australia.
Adolescents completed the School Sleep Habits Survey during class time and then completed an 8-day Sleep Diary. The Flinders Fatigue Scale was completed on the final day of the study.
17.5% of adolescents reported a parent-set bedtime as the main factor determining their bedtime on school nights. Compared to adolescents without parent-set bedtimes, those with parent-set bedtimes had earlier bedtimes, obtained more sleep, and experienced improved daytime wakefulness and less fatigue. They did not differ significantly in terms of time taken to fall asleep. When parent-set bedtimes were removed on weekends, sleep patterns did not significantly differ between groups.
Significant personal and public health issues, such as depression and accidental injury and mortality, are associated with insufficient sleep. Converging biological and psychosocial factors mean that adolescence is a period of heightened risk. Parent-set bedtimes offer promise as a simple and easily translatable means for parents to improve the sleep and daytime functioning of their teens.
Family systems are dynamic, with reciprocal interactions among family members. When children have sleep problems, they often awaken a parent, affecting parent sleep and subsequent parent daytime functioning. Child sleep patterns can also be disrupted by parent cognitions related to the child's sleep, as well as when parents are experiencing external stressors (eg, work or marital problems). This article focuses on sleep in a family context, reviewing the relationship between sleep among children and their parents from infancy to adolescence. Sleep in the family when a child has a chronic illness or development disorder is also reviewed.
To examine the impact of a 30-minute delay in school start time on adolescents' sleep, mood, and behavior.
Participants completed the online retrospective Sleep Habits Survey before and after a change in school start time.
An independent high school in Rhode Island.
Students (n = 201) in grades 9 through 12. Intervention Institution of a delay in school start time from 8 to 8:30 am.
Sleep patterns and behavior, daytime sleepiness, mood, data from the Health Center, and absences/tardies.
After the start time delay, mean school night sleep duration increased by 45 minutes, and average bedtime advanced by 18 minutes (95% confidence interval, 7-29 minutes [t(423) = 3.36; P < .001]); the percentage of students getting less than 7 hours of sleep decreased by 79.4%, and those reporting at least 8 hours of sleep increased from 16.4% to 54.7%. Students reported significantly more satisfaction with sleep and experienced improved motivation. Daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and depressed mood were all reduced. Most health-related variables, including Health Center visits for fatigue-related complaints, and class attendance also improved.
A modest delay in school start time was associated with significant improvements in measures of adolescent alertness, mood, and health. The results of this study support the potential benefits of adjusting school schedules to adolescents' sleep needs, circadian rhythm, and developmental stage.
Sleep in adolescence may vary according to strain and environmental factors. In particular, parents' behavior may affect their children's psychological functioning and sleep. However, no data have been gathered with respect to parents and their adolescent children's concurrent sleep patterns. This was the aim of the present study, together with exploration of the possible influence of parenting style on adolescents' sleep.
A total of 293 adolescents (mean age: 17.55; 214 females, 79 males) completed several questionnaires regarding their own psychological functioning as well as a sleep log for seven consecutive days. Additionally, adolescents rated parents' sleep and parenting styles.
Adolescents' and parents' sleep patterns proved to be correlated. Moreover, mother's sleep was related to adolescents' psychological functioning. However, SEM showed that mother's sleep influenced adolescents' sleep not directly, but indirectly, via parenting style and adolescents' psychological functioning.
Sleep patterns of parents and their adolescent children show similarities. Moreover, mother's poor sleep has a direct impact on parenting style, which in turn affects adolescents' psychological functioning and sleep. Therefore, sleep problems in adolescents may mirror an unfavorable parenting style and sleep complaints among mothers. These conclusions might usefully inform family counseling and treatment of adults' and adolescents' sleep complaints.
With the onset of adolescence, teenagers require 9.2 hr of sleep and experience a delay in the timing of sleep. In the "real world" with early school start times, however, they report less sleep, striking differences between their school-weekend sleep schedules, and significant daytime sleepiness. Prior studies demonstrated that high schoolers with later school starts do not further delay bedtime but obtain more sleep due to later wake times. This study examined sleep-wake patterns of young adolescents attending urban, public middle schools with early (7:15 a.m.) versus late (8:37 a.m.) start times. Students (N = 205) were assessed at 2 time periods. Students at the late-starting school reported waking up over 1 hr later on school mornings and obtaining 50 min more sleep each night, less sleepiness, and fewer tardies than students at the early school. All students reported similar school-night bedtime, sleep hygiene practices, and weekend sleep schedules.