The Unrested Adolescent Brain

Adolescent Technology-use Rules and Sleep in a Large Representative Sample

PURPOSE

This study investigated the prevalence of technology-use rules, typical sleep habits, and associations between rules and sleep using the representative 2017-2018 California Health Interview Survey adolescent sample.

METHODS

Adolescents aged 12-17 years completed the California Health Interview Survey, including queries of (1) rules at home regarding times to turn off or put away electronics and (2) school-night bedtime and rise time. Rates of rules and associations between rules and sleep were investigated using descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariable analyses.

RESULTS

Seventy-two percent reported technology-use rules. Rates were comparable across subgroups. Rules and sleep were not significantly associated after adjusting for covariates. Reported time in bed fell below National Sleep Foundation guidelines for 38% of participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Most adolescents reported technology-use rules at home. Associations between rules and bedtime were mixed, suggesting that further exploration of contextual and developmental factors is needed. Many reported inadequate sleep duration, supporting sleep as a key topic in adolescent health.

Associations Between Adolescents' Daily Digital Technology Use and Sleep

PURPOSE

Although studies have found associations between greater digital technology use and poorer sleep health among adolescents, these studies typically rely on self-reported sleep and cross-sectional designs. This study applied an ecological momentary assessment design to examine how adolescents' daily digital technology use relates to self-reported sleep and wearable-recorded sleep duration.

METHODS

A socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 388 adolescents completed daily surveys of their digital technology use (i.e., messages sent, time for academics, time for leisure) and sleep for 2 weeks. Sleep duration was recorded through wearable devices among a subsample of 254 adolescents for an average of 3.4 days.

RESULTS

Adolescents who reported spending more time using digital technology for nonacademic purposes than their peers reported both shorter self-reported sleep duration and later bedtime (between-person associations). Adolescents who sent more messages than their peers also had shorter sleep duration as recorded by wearable devices. In contrast, few associations were observed when comparisons were made within-individuals with adolescents used as their own controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with prior research, adolescents who reported greater nonacademic daily digital technology use relative to their peers exhibited worse sleep outcomes as measured via self-reports and wearable devices. However, associations with sleep outcomes were weak and inconsistent when adolescents were used as their own controls. Future research should continue to explore between- and within-person associations between digital technology use and sleep to understand potential key differences.

Brain and Behavior Correlates of Risk Taking in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders

Avoidant behavior is a defining feature of pediatric anxiety disorders. Although prior research has examined it from the perspective of early information processing events, there has been relatively less consideration of the processes by which anxious youth make avoidant decisions and how these choices are reinforced over time. Studies of risk taking are valuable in this regard because they consider how individuals identify the pros and cons of their choices, how they weigh potential gains and losses and estimate their respective probabilities, and how they tolerate the uncertainty intrinsic to any decision. In this review, we place risk taking within existing models of information processing in pediatric anxiety disorders and highlight the particular value of this construct for informing models of developmental psychopathology and individual differences in outcome over time. We review existing behavioral and neurobiological studies of risk taking in anxious youth and conclude by identifying directions for future research.