Short Sleep Duration Predicts Externalizing Behaviors in Racially/Ethnically Minoritized Youth

Adolescents are particularly likely to experience insufficient sleep due to hormonal changes and school and extracurricular commitments. Short sleep duration is in turn linked to more externalizing behaviors, which may occur via lowered inhibition. Examining the links between sleep and externalizing behaviors in racially/ethnically diverse youth is needed to expand the generalizability of current findings and examine the psychological consequences of sleep disparities. Two hundred and sixty-four adolescents were recruited from racially and socio-economically diverse schools in Chicago, IL (mean age = 14.48 years; 80% female; 29% Black; 35% Hispanic/Latinx) and completed self-report measures of sleep, inhibition, and externalizing behaviors. A subset of 64 participants also completed 4 days of actigraphy monitoring at baseline. All participants then completed the same measure of externalizing behaviors six months later. Mediation analyses revealed shorter actigraphy-measured sleep duration was associated with more externalizing behaviors at time 1. However, neither self-reported nor actigraphy-measured sleep duration and inhibition were significantly associated, suggesting inhibition did not mediate this link. Short sleep duration may increase the risk for externalizing behaviors in youth. Targeting sleep as a point of intervention could alleviate the long-term ramifications of externalizing behaviors, including delinquency and injury.