Lauren R. Gilbert

Sleep deprivation and dating aggression perpetration in female college students: the moderating roles of trait aggression, victimization by partner, and alcohol use

Dating aggression, whether it is physical or psychological, is a major social concern. The background-situational model is highly predictive of dating aggression, but it lacks consideration of biopsychosocial processes. Sleep was investigated as one such process. A sample of 108 university undergraduate women completed objective (actigraphy) and subjective measures of sleep quality as well as self-reports of dating and trait aggression. Indicators of sleep deprivation were associated with greater frequency of dating aggression perpetration. Associations were especially strong when trait aggression and victimization by the partner were higher. Contrary to hypotheses, alcohol consumption did not significantly moderate the relation between sleep and women’s aggression perpetration. Less sleep was associated with women’s more frequent aggression toward their partners, perhaps because sleep deprivation causes difficulties with emotion regulation.

Earlier school start times are associated with higher rates of behavioral problems in elementary schools

Background: Early school start times may curtail childrens sleep and inadvertently promote sleep restriction. The current study examines the potential implications for early school start times for behavioral problems in public elementary schools (student ages 5‐12 years) in Kentucky. Method: School start times were obtained from school Web sites or by calling school offices; behavioral and disciplinary problems, along with demographic information about schools, were obtained from the Kentucky Department of Education. Estimated associations controlled for teacher/student ratio, racial composition, school rank, enrollment, and Appalachian location. Results: Associations between early school start time and greater behavioral problems (harassment, in‐school removals, suspensions, and expulsions) were observed, although some of these associations were found only for schools serving the non‐Appalachian region. Conclusions: Findings support the growing body of research showing that early school start times may contribute to student problems, and extend this research through a large‐scale examination of elementary schools, behavioral outcomes, and potential moderators of risk.

Father attachment, father emotion expression, and children’s attachment to fathers: The role of marital conflict.

The current study examined relations between father attachment to spouses and child attachment to fathers in middle childhood, focusing on father emotion expressions in father–child interactions as mediators and marital conflict as a moderator of relations. Participants were 199 children between 6 and 12 years of age and their fathers. Fathers completed questionnaires about their attachment to their spouses, and both fathers and mothers reported on their marital conflict. Fathers also discussed a difficult topic with their children for 5 min, and fathers’ positive and negative emotion expression during the discussions were coded. Children completed questionnaires through an interview about their attachment to their father. Father insecure attachment interacted with marital conflict in predicting more negative emotions and less positive emotions during father–child interactions. Specifically, in the context of higher marital conflict in this community sample, fathers who reported greater preoccupied attachment to their spouses exhibited more negative emotions and less positive emotions when interacting with their children. In turn, more father negative emotions and less positive emotions were associated with children’s less secure attachment to fathers. In contrast, father fearful attachment interacted with marital conflict to predict less negative emotion and more positive emotion during interactions with children.

Response to Troxel commentary: further evidence that school start times are associated with behavioral problems in elementary schools

Many school districts around the country have delayed the start times of middle and high schools. This change is most often accomplished by making elementary schools start earlier to preserve tiered bus schedules (although delaying all start times would also preserve the tiered system and may be the most beneficial to all students). In some cases, new elementary start times are extremely early. For example, some elementary schools in Fayette County, KY, were made to start at 7:30 AM; elementary schools in Wilton, CT, were made to start at 7:35 AM; and elementary schools in Wayzata, MN, were made to start at 7:45AM. However, it remains unclear whether there are adverse effects on elementary students given that few studies have studied whether earlier school start times are associated with negative outcomes for elementary school students. Until recently, the assumption has been that earlier start times are fine for young children because they have not yet entered puberty. However, if early start times are in fact harmless for young children, we should be able to document this lack of association empirically rather than simply making the assumption. This is not what we found. Dr Troxel points out that our research is cross-sectional, and thus cannot demonstrate that early school start times cause negative