Social Network Implications of Normative School Transitions in Non-Urban School Districts.

This article expands research on normative school transitions (NSTs) from elementary to middle school or middle to high school by examining the extent to which they disrupt structures of friendship networks. Social network analysis is used to quantify aspects of connectedness likely relevant to student experiences of social support. Data were drawn from 25 communities followed from sixth to ninth grades. Variability in timing of NSTs permitted multi-level longitudinal models to disentangle developmental effects from transition effects. Results indicated that friendship networks were most interconnected in smaller schools and among older students. Beyond these effects, transitions from a single feeder school to a single higher level school were not associated with changes in friendship patterns. Transitions from multiple feeder schools to a single higher level school were associated with diminished friendship stability, more loosely connected friendship networks, increased social distance between students, and friendship segregation between students who formerly attended different schools.

Later Start, Longer Sleep: Implications of Middle School Start Times.

BACKGROUND: Although adolescents generally get less than the recommended 9 hours of sleep per night, research and effort to delay school start times have generally focused on high schools. This study assesses the relation between school start times and sleep in middle school students while accounting for potentially confounding demographic variables. METHODS: Seventh and eighth grade students attending 8 late starting schools (∼8:00 am, n = 630) and 3 early starting schools (∼7:23 am, n = 343) from a diverse suburban school district completed online surveys about their sleep behaviors. Doubly robust inverse probability of treatment weighted regression estimates of the effects of later school start time on student bedtimes, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness were generated. RESULTS: Attending a school starting 37 minutes later was associated with an average of 17 additional minutes of sleep per weeknight, despite an average bedtime 15 minutes later. Students attending late starting schools were less sleepy than their counterparts in early starting schools, and more likely to be wide awake. CONCLUSIONS: Later school start times were significantly associated with improved sleep outcomes for early adolescents, providing support for the movement to delay school start times for middle schools.