096 The Association Between Sleep Regularity Index and Self-Reported Behavioral and Emotional Symptoms in Adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Among adolescents, sleep health has been associated with emotional and mood regulation, cognitive functioning, and behavior. Few studies, however, have examined the Sleep Regularity Index (SRI, Phillips et. al, 2017) and its associations with mental health and well-being in this age group. For this study, we examined whether SRI in 15-16-year-old adolescents would predict internalizing and externalizing symptoms as measured by Youth Self-Report (YSR) scores two years later. We hypothesized that a higher baseline sleep regularity would predict lower internalizing and externalizing YSR scores at the 2-year follow-up. Methods The sample included 32 adolescents (14 male) ages 15-16yr (mean = 15.6) at baseline and 2 years later (mean age = 17.7). Actigraphy data and YSR scores were collected at baseline, and YSR was examined at follow-up. Participant’s SRIs were calculated using 24-hour actigraphy data scored for sleep and wake. YSR T-scores of 60 or above indicate borderline clinical internalizing (n = 2) and externalizing (n = 4) symptoms at follow-up. We used linear regression modeling to determine whether baseline SRI predicted YSR scores 2 years later. Covariates included sleep start time, sleep duration, sex, and baseline YSR scores. Results At baseline, average SRI and YSR scores were not significantly correlated (internalizing: r = 0.10; externalizing: r = 0.24, p’s > 0.1). SRI score at baseline (mean = 80.5 ± 7.4) significantly predicted YSR internalizing scores (mean = 42 ± 9) at the 2-year follow up (t(26) = 2.57, p = 0.016) but not externalizing scores (mean = 44.8 ± 10.3, t(26) = .78, p = 0.44). Conclusion We observed that sleep regularity was associated with internalizing symptoms two years later; however, the association was not in the expected direction: higher SRI was correlated with increased YSR internalizing scores at the 2-year follow-up. As most participants were in a healthy range for YSR scores at both assessments, a possible explanation for this finding is that those with higher SRIs have greater self-awareness in assessing their internal feelings. Future work will examine SRI values and YSR in this sample across 6 assessments acquired at 6-month intervals. Support (if any) AA13252 (NIH)