Adolescent Sleep, Risk Behaviors, and Depressive Symptoms: Are They Linked?

OBJECTIVE: To explore how weekday and weekend sleep patterns are related to adolescent substance use, depressive symptoms, and school truancy. METHODS: Selfreport surveys of 242 youth (93.4% white, mean age 16.4 years). RESULTS: Longer weekday sleep duration was inversely associated with depressive symptoms, past month alcohol use, and drunkenness. Later weekend bedtime and wake-times, compared to those of weekdays, were associated with increased substance use and truancy. CONCLUSIONS: Weekday sleep duration appears to be protective for substance use, depression and school truancy for teenagers. However, inconsistent sleep patterns between weekdays and weekends were associated with a range of markers for adolescent risk.