Did you often fall asleep during high school or were you constantly sleepy as a teenager? If so, then a new study shows that as an adult you have a higher predisposition to commit crimes as an adult. Basically, it means that teenage drowsiness did not only affect your present day but it will impact your future as well.
The study was published in the Child Psychology and Psychiatry journal by a team of researchers from the University of York and the University of Pennsylvania. The study reveals that daytime sleepy teens are four times more likely to become criminals in the coming years as adults. According to Adrian Reine, this is the first such study to show a link between teenage sleeping behavior and the probability of committing crimes as an adult.
For their study, the researchers collected data on the sleeping behavior 15-year-old boys from 101 school around England. The participating students were asked to rate the degree of drowsiness they experience during an average day, as well as having their brain wave activity measured and other psychological responses.
The study accounted for other factors that could determine the criminal future of teenagers besides drowsiness. Therefore, the researchers collected data about the anti-social behavior of the teenagers such as cheating, lying, stealing and fighting. This information was obtained by talking with teachers and other students.
After compiling all the data, after 14 years, the researchers determined which of the participants had criminal records at the age of 29. They discovered that sleepy teens who reported a pattern of repeated drowsiness throughout their teenage years had 4.5 more criminal records than regular students, even after accounting for other factors in their behavior.
Reine emphasized the fact that simply being sleepy as a teenager will not make you a criminal as an adult since criminal activity is mostly determined by the person’s socioeconomic status. The researchers believe that low social class combined with early social adversity leads to daytime drowsiness in teenagers, who could be affected by inattention and brain dysfunction. This combination of factors is what mostly drives sleepy teenagers to commit crimes as adults, a problem which could be solved by simply getting more sleep.
Image source: Flickr