0993 Impact Of Changing School Start Times On Parent Sleep

Abstract

Abstract Introduction No studies have previously considered how healthy school start times impact parents. Since parent and child sleep schedules, in particular wake time, are associated, we examined whether changing school start times would impact parent sleep (elementary school [ES] 9:00am to 8:00am, middle school [MS] 8:00am to 8:50am, high school [HS] 7:10am to 8:20am). Methods Parents of students (grades K-12) completed online surveys pre-change, one-year, and two-years post-change (2017 n=11,579; 2018 n=8,884; 2019 n=8,796), reporting weekday bedtime and wake time (sleep duration calculated bedtime to wake time). Four PROMIS sleep questions asked about sleep “quality”, feeling “alert” upon waking, feeling “tired” during the day, and “daytime problems” because of sleep. Finally, parents were asked one-year post-change how happy they were about the new school start times. Results Parents with only ES students reported earlier bedtimes and wake times (10 and 13 minutes). Parents with >1 HS student woke later (HS only: 22 minutes; MS and HS: 25 minutes; ES and HS: 10 minutes; all 3 levels: 14 minutes) and slept longer (HS only: 19 minutes; MS and HS: 21 minutes; ES and HS: 12 minutes; all 3 levels: 18 minutes), with changes maintained two years. Similarly, parents of only ES students reported no change in sleep quality/impairment. Post-change, more parents with >1 MS or HS student reported good sleep quality (average increase=6.9%), feeling alert (average increase=5.8%), not feeling tired (average increase=5.0%), and having few daytime problems (average increase=4.2%), with benefits maintained two-years post-change. Across levels, parents who were “very happy” about start time changes slept longer than “very unhappy” parents (12-30 minutes); however, across levels, child sleep did not differ between happy and unhappy parents. Conclusion This is the first study to examine the impact of changing start times on parents of students in grades K-12. Study results show no significant impact on parents of elementary students. However, similar to students, parents of middle/high school students reported later wake times and increased sleep duration. Notably, parents’ happiness with start time changes was related to parent, but not student, sleep duration. Support Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action Grant