A not uncommon teen mantra, “You are ruining my life”, may hold true in regard to sleepy teens. A study released this month in the Journal Pediatrics reported that many US teens are sleep deprives. Another study, published in the February edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health by UCLA researchers found that sleep deprived teens may have sleep deprived parents; thus poor sleep habits may percolate through a family.
The authors of the UCLA study note that sleep deprivation is associated with obesity, accidents, substance abuse, and other health problems during high school. They stressed that efforts to improve teen sleep habits should take into consideration the sleep habits of their parents and possibly other family members. The study group comprised 336 pairs of teens and parents (average teen age: 15 years; average parent age: 42 years). The majority of the teens (87%), were born in the US, while 81% of parents, mostly mothers, emigrated from Mexico. The authors noted that family togetherness is emphasized in Mexican-American families; however, it was not known whether it played a factor in the sleep patterns of parents and teens.
The teens and parents documented their sleep habits and daily activities nightly over a two year period for two weeks in each of the years. Parent-teen relationships were examined. On average, teens slept 8.6 hours on non-school nights and approximately 30 minutes less on school nights. Moreover, parents went to bed and woke up earlier than teens and slept about 17 minutes less on school nights. Parents and teens did not always go to bed at the same time; however, the similarity in their sleep habits was significant. If parents stayed up later or retired earlier, their teens also stayed up later or went to bed earlier. In addition, the variability in parental bedtimes was more closely associated with variability in girls’ bedtimes.
The relationship between parental and teen sleep habits remained significant when adjusted for other factors, such as studying; this finding suggested that family sleep routines may influence teen sleep more significantly than other events in their life, researchers. The relationship between sleep habits was the greatest in larger families and those with more parental support.
The authors cautioned that the size of the home, type of neighborhood, lighting, noise, and family members’ morning and evening preferences were not known. In addition, it is unclear whether similar sleep patterns would be seen among other ethnic groups. However, the researchers concluded that teen sleep is associated with the sleep habits of their parents. This association was found to above and beyond commonly known structural and experiential factors, which can shape teenage sleep. They noted that efforts to improve teenage sleep should pay greater attention to parental sleep patterns and possibly other family members as well.
