For teens, online bullying worsens sleep and depressions

For teens, online bullying worsens sleep and depression | Newswise: News for Journalists:

It is vitally important for parents to keep looking for signs of online bullying to protect the health of your children!

 Teens who experience cyberbullying are more likely to suffer from poor sleep, which in turn raises levels of depression, found a University at Buffalo study.

 Although research has examined the relationship between online bullying and depression, the UB study is one of few to explore the connection between cyber victimization and sleep quality.
The study surveyed more than 800 adolescents for sleep quality, cyber aggression and depression.
The research will be presented by Misol Kwon, first author and doctoral student in the UB School of Nursing, at SLEEP 2019, the 33rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in San Antonio, Texas from June 8-12.

“Cyber victimization on the internet and social media is a unique form of peer victimization and an emerging mental health concern among teens who are digital natives,” said Kwon. “Understanding these associations supports the need to provide sleep hygiene education and risk prevention and interventions to mistreated kids who show signs and symptoms of depression.”

Nearly one third of teens have experienced symptoms of depression, which, in addition to changes in sleep pattern, include persistent irritability, anger and social withdrawal, according to the U.S. Office of Adolescent Health.

And nearly 15 percent of U.S. high school students report being bullied electronically, says Kwon. At severe levels, depression may lead to disrupted school performance, harmed relationships or suicide.
The risks of allowing depression to worsen highlight the need for researchers and clinicians to understand and target sleep quality and other risk factors that have the potential to exacerbate the disorder.

The research was supported by a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the National Institutes of Health awarded to Jennifer Livingston, PhD, principal investigator and associate professor in the UB School of Nursing.

Additional UB School of Nursing investigators include Suzanne Dickerson, DNS, professor and chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Health and Clinical Sciences; and Eunhee Park, PhD, assistant professor. Young Seo, doctoral candidate in the UB Graduate School of Education, is also an investigator.

More Sleep May Help Teens with ADHD Focus and Organize | Newswise: News for Journalists

More Sleep May Help Teens with ADHD Focus and Organize | Newswise: News for Journalists:

Teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may benefit from more sleep to help them focus, plan and control their emotions. The findings—the first of their kind in young people with ADHD—will be presented today at the American Physiological Society’s (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2019 in Orlando, Fla.


Newswise — Orlando, Fla. (April 8, 2019)—Teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may benefit from more sleep to help them focus, plan and control their emotions. The findings—the first of their kind in young people with ADHD—will be presented today at the American Physiological Society’s (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2019 in Orlando, Fla.
ADHD is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders among children and adolescents. People with ADHD often have trouble with executive function, which are skills that contribute to being able to focus, pay attention and manage time. Executive function challenges in young people may interfere with academic performance, social skills and emotional development. Previous research has found that a lack of sleep contributes to poorer executive functioning in typically developing adolescents, but teens with ADHD have not been studied.
Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center measured executive function in adolescent volunteers with ADHD after two separate sleep trials. The volunteers spent a week in which their sleep was restricted to six and a half hours per night, followed by a week in which they were allowed to sleep up to nine and a half hours each night. After each trial, the research team administered the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF2), a widely used measure of executive function in children up to age 18. The BRIEF2 assesses executive function areas such as working memory, planning and organization, emotional control, initiation and inhibition.
The tests showed significant deficits in all of the assessed areas following the sleep-restriction week as compared to the sleep-extension week. “Increased sleep may significantly [and positively] impact academic, social and emotional functioning in adolescents with ADHD, and sleep may be an important future target for future intervention,” the researchers wrote.
Chaya Fershtman, a research assistant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, will present the poster “Sleep restriction worsens daily life executive functioning in adolescents with ADHD” on Monday, April 8, in the Exhibit Hall-West of the Orlando County Convention Center.
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact the APS Communications Office or 301-634-7209. Find more research highlights in the APS Press Room.