An interesting new study ties the sleep habits of teenagers and their friends. Essentially, if a teen’s friends don’t sleep enough, the teen probably doesn’t either.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati studied a group of 1,000 teens aged 12 to 15 from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, which logged their physical, cognitive and social development. Between the ages 12 and 15, the average sleep time dropped from over nine hours a night to less than eight. Girls were more likely to have trouble sleeping, as well as minority participants.
When they investigated what was contributing to the decline, the team found that the teens’ social ties — their relationships with parents and friends — exerted a significant influence on how much they slept. For instance, teens who got adequate sleep each school night were more likely to have parents who monitored their daily behavior. But teens were also more likely to get good rest if they were playing an active part in their schools, if they had friends who were positive and social people, and if they cared about school performance.
The study’s findings were published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
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