Auburn University Sleep Study
Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Grant # R01-HL093246 and R01-HL136752
El-Sheikh, M. (PI)
R01-HL093246: 4/1/2009 – 3/31/2013, no-cost extension to 3/31/2014
R01-HL136752: 9/1/2017 – 8/31/2021, no-cost extension to 8/31/2022
R01-HL136752: 2/25/2023 – 1/31/2027
The Study
The Auburn University Sleep Study began in 2009, when children were about 9 years of age, and has followed them through adolescence into emerging adulthood. Families were recruited from small towns and rural communities in the Southeastern United States and are from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds; about one third of youth are Black/African American. Children participated at ages 9, 10 and 11 and again in adolescence (ages 16 to 18), when the sample was expanded to enhance focus on multiple socioeconomic domains (family, neighborhood) and variables associated with race/ethnicity (e.g., perceived discrimination, general stress). Participants are now 24 and 25 years of age. At each wave, sleep was assessed objectively with actigraphy over 7 nights. Our goal is to understand how continuity and change in sleep relate to concurrent and long-term health outcomes.
Key Findings
We examine multiple aspects of sleep as pathways of risk and as vulnerability or protective factors that link socioeconomic adversity and racial/ethnic minoritized status to mental and physical health as well as cognitive and academic outcomes. Sleep problems (short duration, lower quality and inconsistent duration and schedule) predicted lower cognitive/academic performance and health problems in mid to late adolescence. These associations were most pronounced for youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and Black/African American youth, and longer and higher quality sleep emerged as a protective factor, highlighting opportunities for prevention and intervention. Across childhood and adolescence, sleep duration declined while sleep efficiency improved, with steeper declines in sleep duration among Black youth and male youth.
