Study Design

Background

Late childhood and early adolescence, also known as peri-adolescence, is a critical developmental window for early detection and prevention of many mental illnesses. Half of mental health conditions begin showing symptoms at age 14 and by 15 years old mental illness contributes to disabilities more than other disorders, making peri-adolescence (ages 10-13) incredibly important for intervention. Over half of children in this age range experience unhealthy sleeping patterns and sleep issues, which can influence and predict later negative mental health outcomes.

This study focuses on poor sleep health as a risk factor for potential predispositions or development of transdiagnostic mental disorders. The Pediatric Precision Sleep Network will seek to identify sleep signatures in peri-adolescence by using multiple types of data and link them to prospective changes in mental health.  By gathering this information, we can develop improved predictive models to better inform pediatric primary care of these risks.

Funding

This project is funded by the National institute of Mental Health (NIMH), as a part of the Individually Measured Phenotypes to Advance Computational Translation in Mental Health (IMPACT-MH) initiative. This initiative includes projects aimed at using behavioral measures to identify clinical signatures for clinical decision-making and individual-level prediction in mental disorders.