NCT03806296

Delayed Sleep Timing in Teens Study

Delayed Sleep Phase and Risk for Adolescent Substance Use

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 142 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 16 Years – 19 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study will (1) comprehensively characterize the substance use disorder (SUD) risk profile associated with adolescent Delayed Sleep Phase (DSP), and (2) probe whether SUD risk is diminished by altering sleep/circadian timing.

Detailed description

Mounting evidence indicates that delayed sleep phase (DSP) may confer risk for adolescent substance use (SU) and SUDs. However, the exact nature of this link and the mechanisms underlying it remain unclear. Circadian misalignment, a mismatch between late sleep hours and early school start times, is a compelling potential contributor to elevated SU in adolescent DSP with plausible neurobehavioral mechanisms. The investigators hypothesize that DSP-associated circadian misalignment decreases impulse control and increases reward sensitivity, thereby increasing SUD risk. This study will, for the first time, (1) comprehensively characterize the SUD risk profile associated with adolescent DSP, and (2) probe whether SUD risk is diminished by altering sleep/circadian timing. The study will assess both established markers of SUD risk and putative neurobehavioral mechanisms (impulsivity and reward sensitivity). Specifically, the investigators will employ a comprehensive, multi-method approach to examining DSP's role in SUD risk, combining laboratory, experimental, and longitudinal studies. The investigators will recruit a sample of 150 eleventh and twelfth graders (16-19 y/o), divided between 100 DSP and 50 normal phase teens. The investigators will focus on cannabis and alcohol use given their prevalent use in adolescents and evident links to DSP. In the laboratory study, the investigators will compare a group of DSP adolescents to a group of normal phase adolescents on behavioral and neuroimaging (fMRI) tasks tapping impulsivity and reward sensitivity, as well as a circadian phase assessment. In the experimental study, the investigators will probe whether stabilizing circadian phase in the DSP group (n=100) by using sleep scheduling and chronotherapeutic approaches (i.e., dim light in the evening and bright light in the morning) improves sleep and neurobehavioral function relevant to SUD risk. NOTE: When this ClinicalTrials.gov protocol was initially submitted, there were some mistakes made. The initial submission focused only on the Experimental study, which thus only included the "DSP group" (aka Late Sleep Timing group), and thus out the Laboratory study along with the "normal phase group" (aka Early/Middle Sleep Timing group). At that time, we also only listed a limited range of the primary outcomes listed in the funded grant, inadvertently leaving out several primary outcomes (weekday sleep duration - actigraph, circadian timing - dim light melatonin onset, neural correlates of reward receipt, and baseline cannabis and alcohol use). Finally, we mistakenly listed cannabis use from the Longitudinal protocol as a secondary outcome when it was actually an exploratory outcome in the funded grant, and thus we removed it.

Conditions

• Delayed Sleep Phase

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Increase morning bright light	Participants will wear Re-Timer bright glasses for 30 minutes each morning
OTHER	Decrease evening blue light	Participants will wear tinted glasses that block blue wavelength light for 2 hours before bed
BEHAVIORAL	Sleep scheduling	Participants will advance their weekday bedtime and maintain their weekday risetime on weekends
BEHAVIORAL	Monitor sleep, mood, and substance use	Participants will monitor sleep, mood, and substance use via smartphone-based platform and wrist actigraphy

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-12-03
• Primary completion: 2024-03-22
• Completion: 2024-11-30
• First posted: 2019-01-16
• Last updated: 2025-08-26
• Results posted: 2025-08-26

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States