Sleep duration trends and trajectories among youth in the COMPASS study

Objectives: Limited Canadian studies have examined youth sleep over time. This study explored sleep duration over recent years among youth, patterns over the course of secondary school, and subgroups at greater risk of sleep deprivation and problematic trajectories.

Design: Longitudinal survey.

Participants/setting: Secondary school students in Ontario and Alberta, Canada.

Measures and analyses: In cross-sectional analyses, student-reported sleep duration was analyzed in three waves of the COMPASS study (Y₂: 2013/2014, Y₃: 2014/2015, Y₄: 2015/2016), and differences by student-level (race/ethnicity, grade, sex) and school-level (urbanicity, median household income) variables were tested in the most recent wave. For the longitudinal analyses, group-based trajectory modeling was conducted using 3-year linked data, adding risk factors as predictors of problematic trajectories.

Results: Average sleep durations declined over the 3 study waves, resulting in less than half of youth meeting the guideline of 8-10 hours per night. Four trajectory groups comprised almost 90% of participants, with 8.8% of students classified as long sleepers, whereas more than one-third of students belonged to 2 sleep-deprived trajectory groups (short [9.3%] and low-normal [26.7%]). In both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, longer sleep durations were more likely among students who identified as male, White, in earlier grades, and attending schools in areas with higher median household income and classified as rural/small urban, relative to their counterparts.

Conclusions: Results support the necessity of continued surveillance and interventions to monitor and counteract what appears to be an ongoing trend of diminishing sleep and a growing number of sleep-deprived adolescents. Targeted efforts in less affluent and more metropolitan areas warrant consideration.