Sleep Duration Is Associated with Academic Achievement of Adolescent Girls in Mathematics

Lanyi Lin; Gail Somerville; Johanne Boursier; Jose Arturo Santisteban; Reut Gruber

doi:10.2147/NSS.S237267

Sleep Duration Is Associated with Academic Achievement of Adolescent Girls in Mathematics

Nat Sci Sleep. 2020 Feb 24;12:173-182. doi: 10.2147/NSS.S237267. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Lanyi Lin¹, Gail Somerville², Johanne Boursier³, Jose Arturo Santisteban¹, Reut Gruber^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Attention, Behaviour and Sleep Lab, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montréal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada.
² Riverside School Board, Saint-Hubert, QC J3Y 0N7, Canada.
³ Heritage High School, Riverside School Board, St. Hubert, QC J3Y 3S3, Canada.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada.

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the associations between objective measures of sleep during the school week and academic achievement in mathematics and languages in typically developing adolescent girls.

Methods: Eighty adolescent girls aged 12-17 years (M=14.74, SD=1.3) participated. For five consecutive weeknights, sleep was assessed in the home environment using an actigraph. Academic achievement was assessed using report card grades.

Results: Girls who obtained on average less sleep than the recommended amount of 8 to 10 hrs per night had significantly lower grades in mathematics compared to girls who obtained the recommended amount (77.61 vs 86.16, respectively; η_p ²=0.11). Hierarchical regression analyses adjusted for age, pubertal status, and socioeconomic status revealed that longer average sleep time was significantly associated with higher grades in mathematics (B=4.78, 95% CI [2.03,7.53]). No significant associations were found between sleep variables and grades in languages.

Conclusion: Longer average weekday sleep duration is associated with academic achievement of adolescent girls in mathematics.

Keywords: actigraphy; adolescence; gender; grades; report card.