Night Owl Pre-Teens Prone To Bad Behavior

With summer vacation in full swing, many kids are enjoying late nights filled with sleepovers, video game competitions and all-night reading sessions. Parents, however, may want to watch those bedtimes: Experts studying the correlation between sleep and behavior disorders in children and adolescents are now looking at what they call "morningness" and "eveningness," or a preference for daytime or nighttime activities, to explain why some kids behave better than others.

The findings may be discouraging to parents of night owls according to Elizabeth J. Susman, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State. She's found that kids as young as eight who prefer nights over mornings are more likely to exhibit antisocial and aggressive behaviors.

Analyzing 111 boys and girls, age 8 to 13 years old, researchers noted their preference for morning or evening activities and then collected readings of cortisol, a hormone associated with cycles of wakefulness, from the children's saliva. They also assessed the kids to see if they exhibited various undesirable behaviors.

Findings from the study showed that children who prefer evenings over mornings often have antisocial behaviors which include breaking rules, problems with paying attention and focusing, as well as disorderly conduct. According to Susman, this preference for doing stuff at night often means less sleep and in turn, problems with attention and control.

The study also showed that boys with high cortisol levels were more likely to to have behavior problems, supporting previous research linking abnormalities in cortisol secretion to antisocial behavior as well as depression. Early puberty was also associated with rule-breaking and aggression in both boys and girls.

A related study by Alyssa Bachmann of Chappaqua Public Schools in New York released at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in June 2007showed that students with symptoms of sleep disorders are more likely to receive bad grades in classes such as math and English than peers without symptoms of sleep disorders.

The two studies had similar recommendations for dealing with problems related to sleep irregularities. They say school-aged children should be getting between 10-11 hours of sleep a night and urge parents to enforce a bedtime which allows them to achieve this. Your child should follow these steps to get a good night's sleep:

- Follow a consistent bedtime routine.

- Establish a relaxing setting at bedtime.

- Get a full night's sleep every night.

- Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

- Do not go to bed hungry, but don't eat a big meal before bedtime either.

- The bedroom should be quiet, dark and a little bit cool.

- Get up at the same time every morning.

ABSTRACT: Morning-to-Afternoon Cortisol Ratio, and Antisocial Behavior Problems During Puberty