USU Sociologist Awarded National Institutes of Health Grant

The National Institutes of Health recently awarded Utah State University sociologist Eric N. Reither and his collaborators nearly $400,000 to study the sleep, obesity and well-being of adolescents in the United States. The study, beginning in August, is among the first to investigate how obesity and sleep affect the physical and psychosocial health of American children and teenagers, investigators said.

While the nation’s obesity epidemic has been well publicized in the media, another widespread, but less acknowledged public health concern in the United States is the rise in sleep problems among children and adolescents. The new study will address how reductions in sleep may contribute to disparities in obesity among adolescents and potentially exacerbate the physical and mental health issues associated with being overweight.

“What makes our study unique is we are interested in how sleep deprivation may contribute to obesity disparities among socioeconomic groups,” said Reither, an associate professor of sociology who focuses on the health and economic consequences of obesity.

He partnered with sleep epidemiologists and health demographers at Stony Brook University, the University of Colorado at Denver and the University of Wisconsin at Madison to examine a large-scale data set compiled over 13 years from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

The survey was conducted on students in grades 7 to 12 from 132 schools across the country from 1994 to 2007. The investigators are focusing on a core group of about 15,000 who were interviewed at several points during the study. Reither and colleagues will trace changes in sleep patterns from childhood and adolescence to see how it contributes to weight gain.

“Because racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in sleep duration and quality tend to mirror disparities in obesity, it is important to investigate how inadequate sleep might contribute to these differences in the prevalence of obesity,” they wrote in their grant proposal.

Rates of obesity have tripled in American adolescents between 1980 and 2000 with significant disparities among socio-economic and ethnic groups. A drop in quality and duration of sleep in American children has also occurred during this period. Non-Hispanic blacks and many Hispanic subgroups are particularly at-risk for obesity and are the same groups more likely to report sleeping less than 6 hours a night, three hours less than recommended for children aged 10-17.

Reither and colleagues aim to examine this connection and what it means for the mental and physical well-being of these children. Until now, most researchers have focused on the impacts of obesity on health, with very limited exploration of sleep as a potential source of health disparities in children.

“Sleep duration is not really part of the conversation in addressing the obesity epidemic,” Reither said. “It is not as widely recognized, perhaps because it is not as salient as obesity — we can’t observe it as easily. But developing good sleep habits is vital to one’s health. We believe that our research has the potential to underscore that point, and to make sleep an important part of our national conversation about obesity.”

Studies have shown both obesity and insufficient sleep duration contribute to poor physical and mental health. However, scientists have yet to identify how sleep and obesity may combine to influence the psychosocial health of children and adolescents in the United States — which includes factors such as depression, self-esteem and school-related behaviors. Reither believes if his team can link sleep and obesity to these health outcomes, it can help shape public policy and intervention efforts.

“Professor Reither’s team of researchers is grappling with one of the largest issues facing our society, that is obesity, and making progress,” said John C. Allen, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at USU. “I believe receiving this grant is a testament to his national stature and the outcomes will help create better policies for our children in the future. Dr. Reither is an example of the outstanding faculty in the college who are working on solving the very real problems of our world.”

USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Writer: Kristen Munson, (435) 797-0267, kristen.munson@usu.edu

Contact: Eric N. Reither, (435) 797-1217, eric.reither@usu.edu