Sleep and Self-Regulation: A Longitudinal Analysis Across Adolescence

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep and self-regulation during adolescence, a critical period marked by significant changes in brain structure and function. Self-regulation is essential for individuals to achieve personal goals and maintain overall well-being. Essential aspects of self-regulation include response inhibition and sustained attention. A Parametric Go/No-Go task was utilized to analyze self-regulation and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to assess sleep quality via social jetlag and habitual sleep duration. A total of 1,487 participants were drawn from the Adolescent Health Risk Behavior (AHRB) study, which incorporated a longitudinal multi-wave design to evaluate adolescent risk behaviors and related psychosocial constructs. Results showed that longer habitual sleep duration was associated with faster and more consistent reaction times on the task, reflecting better self-regulatory information-processing. While few modest effects were present for social jetlag, no other strong relationships were found between sleep and self-regulation. Furthermore, sleep quality characteristics did not significantly impact performance on the parametric aspect of the task. Covariate effects were present, with factors such as parent level of education, race, and sex influencing various performance parameters on the task. The study’s findings suggest that inadequate sleep duration during adolescence may result in a diminished capacity for self-regulatory information-processing. Further research is necessary to determine the practical implications of these findings. Therefore, at the current time, it is recommended that parents and educators prioritize promoting healthy sleep habits, specifically sufficient sleep duration, which encourages effective self-regulatory abilities in this pivotal developmental stage.