0959 Associations Between Sleep and Academic Performance in Typically Developing Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Healthy sleep promotes cognitive functioning and is associated with better academic performance, whereas insufficient, poor, and inconsistent sleep schedules are associated with poor school performance. Several studies have identified gender differences in the timing, duration, and quality of sleep in adolescence, with adolescent girls having poorer sleep compared to adolescent boys, yet research shows that girls outperform boys academically. This could be because sleep might not affect all subjects similarly and previous studies regarding sleep and academic performance combined both genders. The goal of the present study was to determine which aspects of academic performance are specifically associated with short or poor sleep in typically developing adolescents girls. Methods 80 adolescent girls aged 12-17 years participated in the study. Sleep was assessed in the home environment for five consecutive weeknights using actigraphy. Academic performance was assessed using report card grades. Results Hierarchical regression analyses adjusted for age, pubertal status, and socioeconomic status revealed that longer average sleep time was significantly associated with higher grades in mathematics. No significant associations were found between sleep variables and grades in other subjects. Conclusion Longer average weekday sleep duration is associated with better mathematics grades in typically developing adolescent girls. Support NSERC grant to Reut Gruber