Dr. El-Sheikh examines adolescent sleep in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage

Dr. Mona El-Shiekh and the Child Sleep, Health and Development Lab recently published a paper in the Journal of Adolescence. They found the relationship between sleep and adjustment during adolescence was strongest among families with lower socioeconomic status. These findings suggest improvements in sleep may be an important way to reduce socioeconomic disparities in adolescent adjustment.  

^{Sleep and development in adolescence in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage}

Introduction

Sleep problems are associated with negative developmental outcomes in youth, and identification of vulnerability and protective factors is needed to explicate for whom and under which conditions adolescents may be most at risk. Towards this end, we examined socio-economic status (SES) as a moderator of associations between multiple sleep parameters and adolescents’ socio-emotional adjustment and cognitive functioning.

Methods

Participants were 272 adolescents (M age = 17.3 years; 49% girls) and their parents, residing in the Southeastern U.S.A. The sample was socioeconomically diverse and included 41% Black/African American and 59% White/European American youth. Using a cross-sectional design, adolescents' sleep was assessed with actigraphy (total sleep minutes; efficiency indicated by % of time asleep from sleep onset to wake time) and self-reports of sleep quality (sleep-wake problems). Mothers reported on youths’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and cognitive functioning was assessed with a standardized test battery.

Results

Moderation effects were found and illustrated that, for youth from families with lower SES, shorter and less efficient sleep and subjective sleep problems were associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as lower cognitive performance. Conversely, longer and better-quality sleep protected against socio-emotional and cognitive difficulties otherwise observed for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth. Fewer relations between sleep and adjustment emerged for adolescents from families with higher SES.

Conclusions

Results reinforce a growing literature indicating that the relation between sleep and adjustment is stronger for youth from families with lower SES, who may especially benefit from better sleep.