Equal Benefits? An Examination of the Potential Consequences of Later School Start Times for Adolescents and Their Mental Health

This cross-sectional study utilized responses from 46,537 students enrolled in grades 9 through 12 in 166 high schools across the state of Colorado via the 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey to: (1) quantify the association between high school start times and student sleep duration and (2) investigate the associations between school start times and student mental health. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were used to investigate associations between school start times and self-reported demographic, sleep, and mental health factors. Survey-weighted multivariate regression modeling was used to investigate associations between school start times, sleep duration, and mental health. Schools with late start times (≥8:30 a.m.) saw 32.2% (95% Confidence Interval: 29.5–35.0) of students sleeping 8 h or more relative to 23.2% (22.0–24.4) in schools with very early start times (<8:00 a.m.). For every 15 min later school start time, students’ sleep duration was 4.6 (3.4–5.9) min longer. Students attending schools with very early start times had 1.10 (0.95–1.27) times the odds of attempting suicide compared to those attending schools with later start times, while students at schools with early starts (8:00–8:29 a.m.) were associated with 1.11 (0.98–1.27) times the odds. Schools with later school start times had a statistically significantly higher proportion of students sleeping 8+ hours. Schools with start times before 8:30 a.m. had 10–11% higher odds of students attempting suicide compared to schools with late start times, though these differences were not statistically significant. Student mental health should continue to be investigated when assessing the potential impacts of delayed school start times.

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Have you Heard? Newsworthy items from the field

Phi Delta Kappan ◽

10.1177/0031721720923800 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 101 (8) ◽

pp. 69-70

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

School Safety ◽

The State ◽

Community Members ◽

Safety Concerns ◽

Education Commission ◽

Education Statistics ◽

School Start Times

The Education Commission of the States analyzed governors’ 2020 State of the State addresses to determines what their priorities are for education. ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning surveyed students who took the February 2019 ACT exam about their perceptions of current mental health services at their schools. RTI International surveyed principals from 1,226 schools about tip lines where students, families, and community members can report potential school safety concerns. A publication from the National Center of Education Statistics looks at school start times.

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Evaluating Mental Health Services; How Do Programs for Children “Work” in the Real World? Edited by Carol T. Nixon & Denine A. Northrup. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA, 1997. pp. 306. £16.60 (pb).

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1017/s0021963098222918 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 39 (6) ◽

pp. 935-936

Author(s):

Anne Worrall-Davies

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Real World ◽

The Real

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Therapy and prevention for mental health: What if mental diseases are mostly not brain disorders?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x1800105x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John P. A. Ioannidis

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disease ◽

Brain Disorders ◽

Social Stressors ◽

Labor Education ◽

Mental Diseases ◽

Long Term Follow Up ◽

Political Decisions

AbstractNeurobiology-based interventions for mental diseases and searches for useful biomarkers of treatment response have largely failed. Clinical trials should assess interventions related to environmental and social stressors, with long-term follow-up; social rather than biological endpoints; personalized outcomes; and suitable cluster, adaptive, and n-of-1 designs. Labor, education, financial, and other social/political decisions should be evaluated for their impacts on mental disease.

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A Tribute to the Late William J. Curran

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1017/s1073110500004058 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 274-275

Author(s):

O. Lawrence ◽

J.D. Gostin

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Illness ◽

United Nations ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Harvard University ◽

Legal Medicine ◽

General Assembly ◽

International Institute ◽

University Professor

In the summer of 1979, a group of experts on law, medicine, and ethics assembled in Siracusa, Sicily, under the auspices of the International Commission of Jurists and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, to draft guidelines on the rights of persons with mental illness. Sitting across the table from me was a quiet, proud man of distinctive intelligence, William J. Curran, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. Professor Curran was one of the principal drafters of those guidelines. Many years later in 1991, after several subsequent re-drafts by United Nations (U.N.) Rapporteur Erica-Irene Daes, the text was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. This was the kind of remarkable achievement in the field of law and medicine that Professor Curran repeated throughout his distinguished career.

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Prevalence of Self-Reported Depression Symptoms and Perceived Anxiety Among Community-Dwelling U.S. Adults Reporting Tinnitus

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-19-00178 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 959-970

Author(s):

Kelly M. Reavis ◽

James A. Henry ◽

Lynn M. Marshall ◽

Kathleen F. Carlson

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Self Report ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Community Based Interventions ◽

Data Set ◽

Health Distress ◽

Validated Questionnaire ◽

Mental Health Distress

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between tinnitus and self-reported mental health distress, namely, depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, in adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey between 2009 and 2012. A secondary aim was to determine if a history of serving in the military modified the associations between tinnitus and mental health distress. Method This was a cross-sectional study design of a national data set that included 5,550 U.S. community-dwelling adults ages 20 years and older, 12.7% of whom were military Veterans. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the association between tinnitus and mental health distress. All measures were based on self-report. Tinnitus and perceived anxiety were each assessed using a single question. Depression symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, a validated questionnaire. Multivariable regression models were adjusted for key demographic and health factors, including self-reported hearing ability. Results Prevalence of tinnitus was 15%. Compared to adults without tinnitus, adults with tinnitus had a 1.8-fold increase in depression symptoms and a 1.5-fold increase in perceived anxiety after adjusting for potential confounders. Military Veteran status did not modify these observed associations. Conclusions Findings revealed an association between tinnitus and both depression symptoms and perceived anxiety, independent of potential confounders, among both Veterans and non-Veterans. These results suggest, on a population level, that individuals with tinnitus have a greater burden of perceived mental health distress and may benefit from interdisciplinary health care, self-help, and community-based interventions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12568475

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