Predicting weekday and weekend sleep: Interactions between peers and mothers

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Sleep Science
• Developmental Psychology
• Peer Influence Studies

Background:

• Adolescents frequently suffer from poor sleep quality and irregular sleep schedules.
• Deviant peer affiliation is a potential contributor to adolescent sleep problems.
• Parenting behaviors significantly influence sleep patterns in young people.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between deviant peer affiliation and adolescent sleep.
• To examine the moderating role of maternal management of peer relationships in this association.

Main Methods:

• 131 adolescents and their mothers participated.
• Adolescents reported deviant peer affiliation; mothers reported their management styles.
• Actigraphy was used to objectively measure adolescent sleep parameters over one week.

Main Results:

• Deviant peer affiliation correlated with reduced weekend sleep duration and efficiency.
• Non-directive maternal management intensified negative sleep effects of deviant peers (shorter sleep, later onset, longer latency).
• The largest weekend-weekday sleep onset discrepancies occurred with high deviant peer affiliation and high non-directive maternal management.

Conclusions:

• Deviant peer relationships significantly affect adolescent weekend sleep patterns.
• Active maternal management of peer relationships can serve as a protective factor against sleep disturbances in adolescents.