LAUSR

Previous studies have shown that sleep impairments may contribute to a variety of problems in adolescents, including behavioral dysregulation. As current research explores the specific mechanisms behind sleep’s influence on risk-taking behaviors, circadian misalignment may be particularly important to consider. Previous studies suggest that adolescents experiencing greater circadian misalignment are more likely to use illicit substances and to be involved in motor vehicle accidents. However, most studies on sleep and adolescent risk-taking only use self-report measures of sleep or focus on sleep duration. This study used gold-standard physiological methods to further examine the relationship between risk-taking behaviors and circadian misalignment in adolescents. Fifty healthy adolescents (ages 14-18, 58% female; 94% white) came to the lab for a six-hour appointment in a dim-light room (lux < 5). Every 30 minutes, participants provided saliva samples to measure salivary dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO). Circadian misalignment was defined as the timing of melatonin onset subtracted from average bedtimes noted in participant sleep diaries completed on the previous 10 nights; higher estimates reflect lower circadian misalignment. During each DLMO appointment, participants also completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to evaluate levels of risk-taking behaviors We conducted multiple regression analyses to examine circadian misalignment as a predictor of risky car behavior, risky substance abuse, violence, suicide, and sexual behaviors. We hypothesized that circadian misalignment would be associated with higher levels of all risky behaviors. However, we found no significant relationship between circadian misalignment and risky car (p=.712), substance use (p=.693), violence (p=.317), suicide (p=.259), or sexual behaviors (p=.427). While our results did not support our hypothesis that circadian misalignment is positively associated with risk-taking behaviors in youth, our use of gold-standard methods to assess circadian misalignment adds robustness to existing literature and raises questions over what aspects of sleep are most associated with previously identified increases in risk-taking behaviors. Future studies can utilize this methodology to further clarify the relationship between risky behaviors and circadian misalignment.