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Teen ‘Night Owls’ Report Higher Impulsivity, Study Finds

The online publication of these findings ahead of the SLEEP2025 meeting underscores how chronotherapeutic interventions could mitigate impulsivity-related risks in teens.

Overview

  • Self-reported evening preference among 210 adolescents was linked to higher levels of negative urgency and lack of perseverance.
  • Researchers observed no association between objective circadian measures—such as dim light melatonin onset and actigraphy sleep metrics—and impulsivity.
  • Lead author Riya Mirchandaney suggests unmeasured psychological or behavioral factors may underlie both self-assessed circadian preference and impulsivity.
  • Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the study sampled youth with a mean age of 17 years, 60.5% of whom were female.
  • Results have been released in an online supplement of Sleep and will be presented on June 9 at the SLEEP2025 annual meeting in Seattle.