Sleep science, the cultural authority of medicine, and school start times

School start times have emerged as a major policy development at the intersection of public health and education, and they have been researched extensively with attention to the relationships between school schedules and adolescent sleep quality. Despite the extensive research on start times, few studies have examined the ways medical professional organizations, medical professionals, and sleep scientists portray findings of relevant science through their advocacy for later school start times. Our findings show that medical professionals and scientists emphasize a) the unique biological sleep needs of teenagers, b) the consensus among experts on the benefits of later start times, and c) the need for experts to educate the public on the relevant science supporting later start times. We discuss how school start times represents a novel case of cultural authority, one in which medical professional organizations, medical professionals, and sleep scientists attempt to present their expertise in ways that advance the abiding interests of other groups in addition to improving public health.