Bidirectional associations between adolescents’ sleep problems and impulsive behavior over time

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Adolescents who experience sleep problems are less able to resist impulses. Furthermore, youths who show more impulsive behaviors are, in turn, assumed to have more sleep problems, which sets the stage for a negative cycle over time. Empirical research has shown some evidence that sleep problems affect impulse control, but the bidirectional link has previously not been tested. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test this assumption. METHODS: In this study, we used cross-lagged models to investigate the bidirectional association between sleep problems (ie, insomnia and sleep duration) and impulsive behaviors over two years in a cohort of young adolescents (n = 2767, mean age ∼13.7, 47.6% girls). We also investigated the moderating role of age and gender. RESULTS: The results showed that the links between sleep duration/insomnia and impulsive behavior are bidirectional. Youths who experienced sleep problems also experienced increased difficulties with impulse control, and problems regulating impulses were also linked with increases in sleep problems, and these effects were systematic over two years. Moreover, age did not moderate these associations but impulsive behaviors had a larger impact on girls’ insomnia as compared to boys. CONCLUSIONS: By confirming the bi-directionality of this association, this study supports the importance of developing interventions to promote sleep health in adolescents but also the need to tailor such programs to adolescents’ development because adolescents might not be able to prioritize sleep if they cannot control their impulses.