Citation

Yen CF, King BH, Tang TC. Psychiatry Res. 2010; 179(1): 69-74.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2009.02.016

PMID

20472300

Abstract

Sleep quantity and risky behaviours are important health issues in adolescents. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between short and long nocturnal sleep durations and a variety of adolescent risky behaviours, including suicidality, violence, regular alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, truancy, unprotected sex, tattooing and the criminal record of theft in a large-scale, representative population of Taiwanese adolescents, and to examine the moderating factors for the association between nocturnal sleep duration and risky behaviours. A total of 8319 adolescent students in southern Taiwan were recruited into this study and completed the questionnaires. The association between short and long nocturnal sleep durations and adolescent risky behaviours and the moderating effects of depression and socio-demographic characteristics on the association was examined, respectively. The results indicated that short nocturnal sleep duration was significantly associated with all risky behaviours, and long nocturnal sleep duration was significantly associated with all risky behaviours except for suicidality. Meanwhile, depression, sex, age, and maternal education level had moderating effects on the association between nocturnal sleep duration and several risky behaviours. The findings imply that professionals should investigate the concomitant risky behaviours in adolescents with short or long nocturnal sleep duration.

Language: en