School Start Time and Adolescent Sleep Patterns: Results From the US National Comorbidity Survey—Adolescent Supplement

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We estimated associations between school start time and adolescent weeknight bedtime, weeknight sleep duration, and weekend compensatory sleep and assessed whether associations differ by age, sex, or urbanicity. METHODS: We used a subsample of a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 7308 students aged 13 to 18 years attending 245 schools to estimate associations of school start time, reported by school principals, with weeknight bedtime and sleep duration and weekend compensatory sleep, reported during adolescent face-to-face interviews. RESULTS: Start time was positively associated with weeknight bedtime. Associations between start time and weeknight sleep duration were nonlinear and were strongest for start times of 8:00 am and earlier. Associations differed by sex and urbanicity, with the strongest association among boys in major metropolitan counties. Start time was negatively associated with sleep duration among boys in nonurban counties. Start time was not associated with weekend compensatory sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Positive overall associations between school start time and adolescent sleep duration at the national level support recent policy recommendations for delaying school start times. However, the impact of start time delays may differ by sex and urbanicity.