Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of Sleep Deprivation in Adolescence

说明(申请人提供)：青春期是一个健康悖论；它是一个健康和体力最强的时期，但与其他生命周期相比，青春期也与更高的发病率和死亡率密切相关。强烈的冒险倾向被认为与青少年的高事故率、精神病理学和死亡率有关。睡眠不足已经成为一个严重的公共健康问题，影响了大约45%的美国青少年。晚睡时间和早起上课时间是常态。几项研究探讨了青春期睡眠与健康的关系，并揭示了睡眠不足与意外增加、心理病理和死亡率等不良后果之间的联系。然而，很少有研究专注于确定可能导致这些不利后果的风险承担的可改变的贡献者。这项拟议的研究旨在经验性地评估睡眠不足会增加青少年冒险行为的假设。在受试者内实验设计中，来自三个年龄组的参与者(10-13岁的青春期前/早期青少年、13-16岁的青春期中期/晚期青少年和30-60岁的成年人)将进入实验室并接受两个以上的实验条件 两周的时间；处于休息状态和睡眠不足状态。在休息和睡眠不足的情况下，将检查冒险行为测量的表现(气球模拟风险任务；BART；Lejuez等人，2002)。中晚期青春期青少年将是这项研究的主要目标，因为这是报告白天嗜睡最多的年龄段(Carskadon等人，2004年)，也是据报道最容易出现情绪和行为问题的年龄段(Dahl&Lewin，2002)。如果冒险倾向确实像假设的那样对睡眠不足敏感，那么其影响将是深远的，因为更高的冒险倾向与驾驶事故、酒精和药物使用以及性风险的增加相关。如果没有对睡眠剥夺和危险行为的对照研究，科学家和公共政策制定者只能猜测这些重要的问题。这些知识对于：(A)为指导公共政策提供经验基础(例如，学校开学时间可能需要推迟)，(B)为健康运动提供经验基础(例如，向父母提供关于如何鼓励青少年更好地睡眠的信息)，以及(C)为制定针对青少年睡眠和情感功能障碍的干预措施提供经验基础。这项研究将为青少年提供机会，使他们有机会充分发挥其健康和富有成效的生活的潜力，并确保他们的独立性和幸福感，以便他们能够安全地应对这一发展阶段的挑战。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescence is a health paradox; it is a time of peak health and strength, however it is also strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality compared to the rest of the life span. Strong propensity toward taking risks is thought to be associated with high rates of accidents, psychopathology and mortality among adolescents. Inadequate sleep has emerged as a serious public health problem, affecting roughly 45% of American adolescents. Late bed times and early school start times are the norm. Several studies have examined the relationship between sleep and health in adolescence and have revealed a link between sleep deprivation and adverse consequences such as increased accidents, psychpathology and mortality. However, there is a dearth of research focused on identifying modifiable contributors to the risk taking that likely underpins these adverse consequences. The proposed research aims to empirically evaluate the hypothesis that sleep deprivation increases adolescent risk taking. In a within subjects experimental design, participants from three age groups (pre/early pubertal adolescents age 10-13, mid/late pubertal adolescents age 13-16 and adults age 30-60) will come in to the laboratory and undergo two experimental conditions over a two week period; a rested condition and a sleep deprived condition. Performance on a behavioral measure of risk taking (Balloon Analogue Risk Task; BART; Lejuez et al, 2002) will be examined after both the rested and sleep deprived conditions. Mid/late pubertal adolescents will be the main target of this research since this is the age group who are reporting the most daytime sleepiness (Carskadon et al, 2004) and the age group that is reported to be the most vulnerable to emotion and behavior problems (Dahl & Lewin, 2002). If risk taking propensity is indeed sensitive to sleep deprivation as hypothesized, the implications are far reaching as a higher propensity toward taking risks is associated with an increase in driving accidents, alcohol and drug use, and taking sexual risks. Without controlled studies of sleep deprivation and risky behaviors, scientists and public policy makers can only guess about these important issues. Such knowledge is critical for (a) providing an empirical basis for guiding public policy (e.g., school start times may need to be later), (b) providing an empirical basis for health campaigns (e.g., information to parents about how to encourage better sleep in their teens) and (c) providing an empirical basis for developing interventions for sleep and affective functioning difficulties among youth. This research will provide means of giving adolescents the chance to achieve their full potential for healthy and productive lives, and to ensure their independence, and well-being, so they can safely navigate the challenges of this phase of development.