Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep 5:1:100009.
doi: 10.1016/j.sleepx.2019.100009. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Bidirectional associations between adolescents' sleep problems and impulsive behavior over time

Serena V Bauducco  1 , Selma Salihovic  2 , Katja Boersma  1
Affiliations

Bidirectional associations between adolescents' sleep problems and impulsive behavior over time

Serena V Bauducco et al. Sleep Med X. .

Abstract

Objective/background: Adolescents who experience sleep problems are less able to resist impulses. Furthermore, youths who show more impulsive behaviors are, in turn, assumed to have more sleep problems, which sets the stage for a negative cycle over time. Empirical research has shown some evidence that sleep problems affect impulse control, but the bidirectional link has previously not been tested. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test this assumption.

Methods: In this study, we used cross-lagged models to investigate the bidirectional association between sleep problems (ie, insomnia and sleep duration) and impulsive behaviors over two years in a cohort of young adolescents (n = 2767, mean age ∼13.7, 47.6% girls). We also investigated the moderating role of age and gender.

Results: The results showed that the links between sleep duration/insomnia and impulsive behavior are bidirectional. Youths who experienced sleep problems also experienced increased difficulties with impulse control, and problems regulating impulses were also linked with increases in sleep problems, and these effects were systematic over two years. Moreover, age did not moderate these associations but impulsive behaviors had a larger impact on girls' insomnia as compared to boys.

Conclusions: By confirming the bi-directionality of this association, this study supports the importance of developing interventions to promote sleep health in adolescents but also the need to tailor such programs to adolescents' development because adolescents might not be able to prioritize sleep if they cannot control their impulses.

Keywords: Adolescents; Bidirectional; Impulsive behaviors; Insomnia; Sleep duration; Urgency.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cross-lagged panel model of insomnia and impulsive behavior over two years displaying regression weights and significance level (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cross-lagged panel model of total sleep time (TST) and impulsive behavior over two years displaying regression weights and significance level (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Dahl R.E., Lewin D.S. Pathways to adolescent health sleep regulation and behavior. J Adolesc Health. 2002;31(6):175–184. - PubMed
    1. Shochat T., Cohen-Zion M., Tzischinsky O. Functional consequences of inadequate sleep in adolescents: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev. 2014;18(1):75–87. - PubMed
    1. Short M.A., Weber N. Sleep duration and risk-taking in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. 2018;41:185–196. - PubMed
    1. Telzer E.H., Fuligni A.J., Lieberman M.D. The effects of poor quality sleep on brain function and risk taking in adolescence. Neuroimage. 2013;71:275–283. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Colrain I.M., Baker F.C. Changes in sleep as a function of adolescent development. Neuropsychol Rev. 2011;21(1):5–21. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources