The bidirectional association between sleep problems and anxiety symptoms in adolescents: A TRAILS report

What was already known about this subject?

• Adolescence is a sensitive period for the development of sleep problems as well as anxiety symptoms.
• Previous studies have found a bidirectional association between sleep problems and anxiety symptoms among adolescents.
• These studies did not distinguish differences between persons from differences within persons, which could have led to erroneous conclusions regarding the underlying causal mechanisms.

What will this study add?

• We examined bidirectional associations between sleep problems and anxiety symptoms throughout adolescence and young adulthood, while differentiating between-person effects from within-person effects.
• Participants who reported poor sleep tended to report high anxiety as well. 
• Within persons, sleep problems tended to precede anxiety in early and mid-adolescence, but not in late adolescence and young adulthood. No effects were found in the other way direction.
• The findings suggest that sleep-oriented interventions in early adolescence may not only improve sleep, but also prevent the development of anxiety symptoms.