Measuring sleep duration in adolescence: Comparing subjective and objective daily methods.

Area of Science:

• Sleep Science
• Adolescent Health
• Biomedical Measurement

Background:

• Accurate measurement of adolescent sleep duration is crucial for understanding health and well-being.
• Discrepancies between self-reported and objective sleep measures can impact research findings.
• Previous studies have not clearly distinguished between-person and within-person associations in adolescents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correspondence between self-reported and actigraph-measured nighttime sleep duration in adolescents.
• To differentiate between-person and within-person associations in sleep duration measurement.
• To examine potential moderators of sleep duration correspondence in adolescents.

Main Methods:

• 150 adolescents (aged 14-21) participated in the study.
• Participants completed sleep diaries and wore actigraph devices for one week.
• Mixed-effects models were used to analyze associations and moderation effects.

Main Results:

• Significant between-person associations (b=0.77) and within-person associations (b=0.51) were found between self-reported and actigraph-measured sleep duration.
• No significant moderation effects were observed, indicating consistency across participant characteristics.
• Both methods demonstrated reliable correspondence for assessing sleep duration.

Conclusions:

• Self-reports and actigraphy are both viable tools for assessing within-person nighttime sleep duration in adolescent community samples.
• The findings support the use of either method for reliable sleep duration assessment in adolescents.
• This research provides valuable insights into the validity of sleep measurement techniques in adolescent populations.