Cultural Beliefs and Practices Impacting Teenage Sleep

描述(由申请人提供)：根据大多数人的说法，当代美国青少年表现出严重的睡眠问题。睡眠不足和不一致的睡眠时间会引起公共健康问题，因为它们会让青少年面临一系列发育困难的风险，包括危险行为和药物使用、内化问题、肥胖和学习成绩低下。改善青少年睡眠的努力必须承认睡眠，尽管这是一种生物学要求，也是一种文化和社会根深蒂固的做法。有研究表明，差异会导致少数族裔青少年出现更严重的睡眠问题，因此，除了简单地展示人口统计学差异，并更深入地了解文化信仰和习俗在青少年睡眠中的作用的研究已经变得至关重要。不幸的是，人们对文化信仰和习俗影响青少年睡眠的过程知之甚少。我们建议建立能力和基础设施，以创建一个研究团队，并开发一个跨学科的方法工具箱，以进行关于文化信仰和实践在青少年睡眠中的作用的基本行为研究。通过聚集睡眠、神经科学、青少年社会发展和文化方面的专业研究人员，我们将致力于(1)进一步开发和完善跨学科的概念和启发式模型，研究文化信仰和实践对青少年睡眠的影响；(2)开发新的方法工具箱，研究文化信仰和实践对青少年睡眠的影响；以及(3)测试新方法，最终形成最终将在未来使用的方法工具箱，更大范围地研究文化信仰和实践对青少年睡眠的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): By most accounts, contemporary American teenagers exhibit significant sleep problems. Sleep deficits and inconsistent sleep timing generate public health concerns because they place adolescents at risk for a host of developmental difficulties, including risky behavior and substance use, internalizing problems, obesity and academic underachievement. Efforts to improve teenage sleep must acknowledge that sleep, although a biological imperative is also a culturally and socially embedded practice. With studies suggesting disparities such that ethnic minority teenagers experience greater sleep problems, research that goes beyond simply demonstrating demographic variations and provides a deeper understanding of the role of cultural beliefs and practices in teenage sleep has become essential. Unfortunately, little is known about the processes by which cultural beliefs and practices impact teenage sleep. We propose building the capacity and infrastructure to create a research team and develop a trans-disciplinary toolbox of methods to conduct basic behavioral research on the role of cultural beliefs and practices in teenage sleep. By bringing together researchers with expertise in sleep, neuroscience, adolescent social development, and culture, we will work to (1) further develop and refine a trans-disciplinary conceptual and heuristical model of the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on teenage sleep; (2) develop a new toolbox of methods to study the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on teenage sleep; and (3) test the new methods, culminating in a finalized toolbox of methods to be used in a future, larger study of the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on teenage sleep.