ReACH Lab Director Publishes Article on Sleep and Self-Control

01 Aug ReACH Lab Director Publishes Article on Sleep and Self-Control

Dr. Elisa Trucco, ReACH Lab Director, alongside peers from Florida International University, has published ‘Sleep problems and self-control: An examination of reciprocal effects across childhood and adolescence’ in the Journal of Criminal Justice. The article investigates possible reciprocal associations between sleep and self-control across seven waves of data spanning childhood through middle adolescence, using both a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to test between- and within-person effects. Data was collected from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), a longitudinal birth cohort study, with a total of 924 children for inclusion in the CLPM and 1162 for inclusion in the RI-CLPM.

Results from the CLPM model revealed a reciprocal association between self-control and sleep problems during childhood at the between-individual level, but no association was found during adolescence. Instead, a unidirectional effect of self-control on later sleep problems was observed. In addition, the RI-CLPM model revealed evidence of a reciprocal association between sleep problems and self-control during childhood at the within-individual level. Yet, once study participants entered adolescence, no significant cross-construct effects were observed. The finding that reciprocal associations were limited to childhood suggests that interventions to address sleep problems and deficits in self-control may be particularly effective if employed during this critical developmental period as opposed to waiting until youth enter adolescence. Early interventions that target sleep hygiene, such as psychoeducation and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, may help promote gains in self-control during childhood. This, in turn, may prevent future involvement in delinquent behavior.