0956 ADOLESCENT SLEEP DISTURBANCE AMONG A COMMUNITY-BASED SCREEN: PREVALENCE AND CO-MORBIDITY RATES FROM THE SENSE STUDY

There is robust evidence of an association between sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression in adolescence. However, more research is needed among community samples. The SENSE Study (Sleep and Education: learning New Skills Early) is a 5-year, multi-institutional randomized controlled trial investigating whether a 7-week, cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based sleep intervention can improve sleep, anxiety, and depression in adolescents. This project reports on the screening data, highlighting the prevalence and co-morbidity of sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression among a community based sample of adolescents. Participants were 1,491adolescents (58% female; Mean Age =14.40, SD=1.13) recruited from 23 secondary schools across Melbourne, Australia. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep disturbances (PSQI scores >5), Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) to assess high anxiety (SCAS scores >32 males, >38 females), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to assess for elevated depressive symptoms (CES-D scores >16). Screening data supported high co-morbid sleep, depression, and anxiety symptoms among adolescents within the community. Participants reported elevated scores on the PSQI (M= 6.05, SD=3.16), SCAS (M=30.11, 15.77), and CES-D (M=16.24, SD=10.10). Only 36% of the sample did not show any clinical symptoms, whereas 50%, 44%, and 30% students evidenced above threshold cut-off scores for sleep problems, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, respectively. The majority of adolescents who reported clinical symptoms scored above the cut-off ranges in more than one domain. Just 14% of students reported only sleep issues, 7% reported only depressive symptoms, and 3% reported only anxiety symptoms, whereas 20% of students reported sleep, depressive, and anxiety symptoms combined. Results provide converging evidence that sleep disturbance is a prevailing community issue, is common among adolescents, and is commonly co-morbid with anxiety and depressive symptoms. These findings have important implications for the design of adolescent sleep treatment; both clinical and community setting interventions need to consider anxiety- and depression-specific modules for the adolescent sleep improvement. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)-funded grant (APP1027076).