A m y R . Wolfson and M a r y A . CarskadonSleep and waking behaviors change significantly during the adolescent years. The objective of this study was to describe the relation between adolescents' sleep / wake habits, characteristics of students (age, sex, school), and daytime functioning (mood, school performance, and behavior). A Sleep Habits Survey was administered in homeroom classes to 3,120 high school students at 4 public high schools from 3 m o d e Island school districts.Self-reported total sleep times (school and weekend nights) decreased by 40-50 min across ages 13-19, ps < .001. The sleep loss was due to increasingly later bedtimes, whereas rise times were more consistent across ages. Students who described themselves as struggling or failing school (C's, D's / F's) reported that on school nights they obtain about 25 min less sleep and go to bed an average of 40 min later than A and B students, ps < .001. In addition, students with worse grades reported greater weekend delays of sleep schedule than did those with better grades. Furthermore, this study examined a priori defined adequate sleep habit groups versus less than adequate sleep habit groups on their daytime functioning. Students in the short school-night total sleep group (<6 hr 45 min) and/or large weekend bedtime delay group (>120 min) reported increased daytime sleepiness, depressive mood, and sleep / wake behavior problems, ps < .05, versus those sleeping longer than 8 hr 15 min with less than 60 min weekend delay. Altogether, most of the adolescents' surveyed do not get enough sleep, and their sleep loss interferes with daytime functioning.

Five or more nights of usable recordings are required to obtain reliable actigraph measures of sleep for children and adolescents.

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The maturation of sleep regulatory systems during adolescence in combination with psychosocial and societal pressures culminate in a "Perfect Storm" of short and ill-timed sleep and the associated consequences for many youngsters. This model, first described by Carskadon in 2011, guides our current thinking of adolescent sleep behavior. Since the original description, the field has moved forward with remarkable pace, and this review aims to summarize recent progress and describe how this new work informs our understanding of sleep regulation and sleep behavior during this developmental time frame.