Teen Sleep, Cultural Authority of Medicine, and Institutional Change in the Start School Later Movement

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Health and Wellbeing

Abstract

New laws in California and Florida represent the most substantial policy victories to date for the Start School Later movement, a collective effort to alter school schedules for the benefit of adolescents’ sleep and overall health. Yet we know little about the sociological mechanisms driving these policy changes and how medical organizations portray biomedical science to policy stakeholders in ways that compel reform. Drawing upon over 300 documents including policy statements, published research, and legislative hearings, we examine the public-facing messaging among medical associations and advocacy groups. Physicians and sleep scientists exercise cultural authority about teen sleep by defining the problem as primarily biological and claiming unique expertise in biomedical science. They invoke consensus among experts and work to “educate the public” to advance policy change. We discuss implications for the limits and possibilities of medical and health professionals to address public health problems through interventions in education policy.

Authors

• Judson G. Everitt, Loyola University-Chicago

• Dana Garbarski, Loyola University Chicago

• Dana LaVergne, Loyola University-Chicago