Summary: A new study finds that adolescents who identify as evening types, commonly called “night owls,” report higher levels of impulsivity than their peers who identify as morning types. Specifically, these teens showed greater negative urgency—acting rashly when upset—and lower perseverance, meaning they were more likely to abandon challenging tasks.
Importantly, the researchers did not find a link between objectively measured circadian timing and impulsivity, indicating that psychological or behavioral factors tied to self-reported sleep preference may matter more than the biological clock itself. The study, involving 210 teenagers, highlights chronotherapeutic approaches as a potential avenue to reduce impulsivity-related risks during adolescence.
Key Facts:
- Evening Preference & Impulsivity: Adolescents who prefer later bed and wake times reported higher impulsivity on measures of negative urgency and lower perseverance.
- No Biological Link: Dim light melatonin onset (DLMO), an objective marker of circadian phase, did not predict impulsivity levels in this sample.
- Prevention Potential: Addressing sleep timing and routines could be explored as a strategy to reduce adolescent risk behaviors associated with impulsivity, such as substance use.
Source: AASM
Overview of the study and main findings
Researchers presenting at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting report that adolescents who self-identify as evening types exhibited higher scores on specific impulsivity dimensions than those identifying as morning types. The most pronounced differences were seen in negative urgency—the tendency to act impulsively when experiencing negative emotions—and in reduced perseverance, which reflects a lower tendency to persist on difficult or unpleasant tasks.
The absence of an association between DLMO and impulsivity surprised the investigators. Dim light melatonin onset is a laboratory measure of when the body begins producing melatonin under dim light conditions and is widely used as an objective marker of circadian phase. In this study, however, DLMO did not predict impulsivity scores, whereas self-reported circadian preference did.
Lead author Riya Mirchandaney, a doctoral candidate in clinical-health psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that the findings imply other influences—psychological characteristics, lifestyle, social schedules, or behavioral patterns—may underlie both an adolescent’s reported preference for later sleep and higher impulsivity. In short, how teens perceive and organize their sleep may reflect broader behavioral tendencies that relate to impulsive responding.
The study sample included 210 adolescents drawn from two related studies, with an average age of 17 years; 60.5% of participants were female. Methods combined self-report questionnaires assessing impulsivity and circadian preference with objective measurements: saliva samples collected in the laboratory to determine DLMO and continuous wrist actigraphy worn for a week to estimate sleep midpoint and duration. Participants also completed nightly impulsivity assessments at bedtime during the monitoring week.
Together, these measures allowed the team to compare subjective chronotype with objective circadian timing and with both trait and state measures of impulsivity. The consistent pattern linking evening preference to higher negative urgency and lower perseverance—despite a lack of association with DLMO—points to a relationship that is not solely driven by internal biological timing.
Impulsivity in adolescence is a well-documented risk factor for behaviors such as substance use and other risky activities. Mirchandaney and colleagues suggest that adolescence could be a particularly promising period for preventative strategies that focus on sleep and circadian patterns. Chronotherapeutic interventions that aim to advance sleep timing—for example, through behavioral strategies that encourage earlier bedtimes and morning light exposure—may help reduce impulsivity-related risks, though further research is needed to test the effectiveness of such approaches in real-world settings.
Funding: This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism within the National Institutes of Health.
About this impulsivity, neurodevelopment, and circadian rhythm research news
Author: Hannah Miller
Source: AASM
Contact: Hannah Miller – AASM
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will be presented at SLEEP 2025