Pubertal Change, Deficient Sleep, and Mental Health Problems: Understanding This Slow Moving Trainwreck

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Adolescence provides a context for the “Perfect Storm” for deficient (i.e., poor quality, short duration) sleep (Carskadon, 2011; Crowley et al., 2018), a robust correlate of adolescent mental health problems (e.g., Gregory & Sadeh, 2016; Khor et al., 2021). However, few studies have sought to examines its origins in pubertal development. Thirty years have passed since Carskadon and colleagues’ (1993) seminal paper on puberty and associated sleep changes, yet research has primarily focused on psychosocial influences (e.g., screen time, school start-times) on adolescent sleep and its consequences. Accordingly, this symposium’s aim is to highlight the nuanced connections between pubertal change, sleep, and adolescent psychopathology.
To achieve this aim, three studies based on large samples will be presented. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD; N=3326) study, the first study identified latent profiles of adolescents’ sleep behaviors and demonstrated their links to internalizing/externalizing problems as moderated by pubertal development. Using actigraphy-based assessment of sleep (N=818), the second study used multi-group analyses in a sample of early adolescent twins to highlight sex-differences in the links between puberty, sleep and internalizing symptoms. Using data from ABCD (N=5949), the third study examined sleep duration and variability as mediators of the association between pubertal development and changes in family conflict, a key correlate of adolescent psychopathology (Davies et al., 2006). Our internationally renowned discussant will provide an in-depth explanation of the sleep-puberty connection – including the role of circadian timing – and will help to stoke the audience-centered discussion that emerges from the presented talks.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Chair

• Jack S Peltz, SUNY Brockport

Discussant

• Mary A Carskadon, Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Individual Presentations

• Latent Typologies of Sleep Patterns: Associations with Pubertal Development, Internalizing and Externalizing Problems - Presenting Author: Linhao Zhang, University of Georgia; Jeri Sasser, Arizona State University; Jack S Peltz, SUNY Brockport; Leah D Doane, Arizona State University; Michelle Barth, University of Georgia; Assaf Oshri, University of Georgia

• Do Self-Reported and Actigraph Sleep Mediate the Association between Pubertal Development and Internalizing Symptoms? - Presenting Author: Emma Lecarie, Arizona State University; Leah D Doane, Arizona State University; Mary Davis, Arizona State University; Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, Arizona State University

• The Impact of Pubertal Development on Children’s Sleep and Family Conflict - Presenting Author: Jack S Peltz, SUNY Brockport; Assaf Oshri, University of Georgia; Leah D Doane, Arizona State University; Jeri Sasser, Arizona State University; Linhao Zhang, University of Georgia