Neural Correlates of Self-regulation on Academic Functioning

Based on the Self-Control Theory, individual differences in characteristics such as impulsivity, risk-seeking, and self-regulation consistently predict health-compromising and problem behaviors as well as academic functioning and success in adolescents and young adults.[1] Although suboptimal self-regulation is normative in adolescence and young adulthood, [2] it might result in negative consequences for adolescents' and young adults' health and well-being, including substance use, school/college dropout, or troubles with law. A recent line of research suggested that self-regulation problems are associated with insufficient and poor sleep.[3] As adolescents and young adults frequently report poor sleep functioning,[4] their self-regulation abilities might be further compromised by unfavorable sleep functioning with consequences for youths' problem behaviors and academic success. To mitigate this problem, some efforts have followed to ensure that adolescents get enough quality sleep (e.g., delayed school start times). However, the associations between sleep functioning, self-regulation, academic functioning, and problem behaviors were established predominantly using questionnaire data. Neurophysiological correlates of these associations have not been extensively studied. In the proposed study, this gap in scholarship will be addressed by linking sleep functioning to self-regulation indicated by neuropsychological and neuroanatomical data, and predicting academic achievement and problem behaviors with sleep and self-regulation. This explorative, pilot study is a first step in efforts to understand the issue; it will be carried out with a college student sample (N = 48, 50% female) which will also have implications for future research focused on adolescents (middle and high school students). Pilot data will inform the development of a larger study that will include adolescents (middle and high school students) and will support grant applications. Results will have a potential for prevention /intervention programs and policy targeting youth, such as school start times setting. This study will be carried out as a collaboration between the Department of Family Sciences at the University of Kentucky and the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the Texas Tech University. Data will be collected following the same procedures described in this application both at the University of Kentucky and Texas Tech campuses. Research team at the Texas Tech University has submitted their own Institutional Review Board (IRB) application that is now being reviewed.

Inclusion criteria

Healthy college-age youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years

Exclusion criteria

• Gross impairment of vision or hearing
• Inability to read and follow written instructions
• Physical, neurological, or concurrent psychiatric impairments
• Regular intake of psychotropic medication (such as methylphenidate used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), antidepressants, or anti-anxiety medication)
• A history of head injury that resulted in loss of consciousness/a history of brain surgery/or seizures
• A current/past history of smoking and/or alcohol or drug abuse (i.e., five or more drinks in one sitting or 15 drinks or more during a week for men, and four drinks on one occasion or eight drinks over the course of a week for women; additionally, regular drug use, including marijuana)
• Current pregnancy
• Any metallic objects in your body (such as braces, pacemakers, surgical devices, piercings that cannot be removed etc.) Enrollment of the subjects will start in May 2018 and will be finished by the end of December 2018.