Poster #80 - Longitudinal associations between Sleep, Physical Activity and Academic Achievement Across Middle Childhood and Adolescence

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Research has documented normative declines in indicators of school motivation and performance across adolescence (Eccles & Midgley, 1989). Indeed, youth commonly experience declines in competence beliefs, school engagement and self-regulated learning (Wang, 2012; Wigfield et al., 2006). Given the importance of early achievement for later achievement, identifying day-to-day experiences that support learning is imperative. Two such experiences are sleep and physical activity. Better sleep is associated with enhanced memory, concentration, and emotion regulation (Sadeh, 2007; Walker, 2009). Similarly, physical activity has been linked to executive functioning, attention, inhibition and memory (Strong, 2005; Van der Niet, 2014). Adolescence is a developmental period of particular vulnerability to sleep problems and declines in physical activity (Adolescent Sleep Working Group, 2015; Matthews, 2008; Metcalf, 2015; Thomas, 2015). Indeed, natural circadian rhythm shifts and increased sedentary activity during adolescence are associated with sleep and physical activity declines (Bartel et al., 2015; Metcalf et al., 2015). Deficits in sleep and physical activity have been linked to behavioral problems, which could impact achievement (Spruit et al., 2016). Despite established links, much of the research in this area is cross-sectional, limiting our understanding of longitudinal relationships. Furthermore, studies examining sleep and physical activity typically focus on health outcomes rather than achievement outcomes. Thus, we seek to broaden existing research by examining the longitudinal associations between sleep, physical activity, and changes in academic achievement across middle childhood and adolescence.
Participants included families from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. In 5th grade and at age 15, youth took the Revised Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational Battery to assess cognitive skills. In 6th grade, mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist to assess youth behaviors. In 6th grade, youth completed the My Sleep Habits questionnaire to assess sleep problems. Finally, youth wore Physical Activity Monitors (PAM) in 6th grade to measure time spent in physical activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test all hypotheses.
After controlling for youth and family factors, sleep in 6th grade was significantly associated with changes in picture vocabulary, but not with changes in applied problems (see Figure 1), where youth reporting more sleep problems in 6th grade demonstrated lower picture vocabulary scores in 5th grade and at age 15. Contrary to expectation, physical activity in 6th grade was not associated with academic outcomes. Although pubertal status in 6th grade and adolescent sex were correlated with physical activity and some achievement outcomes, there was no evidence these variables moderated the links between sleep or physical activity and achievement. Internalizing problems in the 6th grade were significantly associated with physical activity and sleep problems at the same age, but not with academic outcomes in 5th grade or age 15. Externalizing problems in 6th grade were significantly associated with sleep problems at the same age, as well as academic outcomes in 5th grade and age 15. As a final step, we will test whether behavior problems mediate the links between sleep/physical activity and achievement. Findings will be discussed with respect to implications for practice.

Authors

• Bethany Hoff, 0000008107617
  Presenting Author

• Kristen Bub, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author