The main goal of this study was to explore adolescent
sleep patterns over the course of middle school.
Specifically, we hypothesized that adolescents would
obtain decreasing amounts of sleep and that this
chronic insufficient sleep would predict changes in
depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and grades; those
who obtained less sleep would experience a rise in
depressive symptoms and decreases in self-esteem
and grades. Using an idiographic approach, we
examined interindividual pathways of change in
these variables. Consistent with previous research,
we found that hours of sleep did indeed decrease
during the middle school years for both males and
females, and especially for the latter group. Students
who experienced lower levels of sleep at the
beginning of sixth grade also exhibited lower selfesteem
and grades and higher levels of depressive
symptoms at that point. By the same token, students
who obtained less sleep over time experienced
heightened depressive symptoms and decreased
self-esteem. Although grades dropped over time,
the combined model did not produce a significant
result for the effect of the slope of sleep on the slope
of grades. Except for this last result, our findings
corresponded with the hypotheses stated earlier