Researchers Study Intersection of Alcohol, Anxiety and Sleep in Teens

Poor sleep quality is associated with a higher risk of anxiety and, subsequently, a higher likelihood of alcohol use in adolescence, concludes Sarah Bilsky, assistant professor of psychology, and a team of students. Their research was published in the journal Substance Use & Misuse.

"Most people can agree that sleep is important, but I don't think families always understand how important it really is," Bilsky said. "If you can get on good sleep schedules early, that can have the benefit of preventing these downstream problems.

"This (research) suggests in a very preliminary way that one way to reduce alcohol use in adolescents is to target some of these downstream factors. Getting kids engaged in healthier sleep habits and trying to target anxiety – doing those interventions early can may reduce the likelihood of these problematic outputs later."

Americans are sleeping less and stressing more, a recent study from Gallup found. Young women are the most likely to get poor sleep and experience anxiety.

The idea for the research grew from Gabrielle Armstrong's honors thesis, Bilsky said. Armstrong, a Tupelo native, graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2022 and is returning to Ole Miss this fall to work on a doctoral degree.

"I recognize in my community and in Mississippi, a lot of people do struggle with internalizing disorders and to cope with those symptoms, they often turn to alcohol," Armstrong said. "What led me to this topic, I think I wanted to better understand how those variables like anxiety and alcohol interact with each other and how they interact with sleep."

Armstrong, Bilsky and two other student researchers surveyed more than 140 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 about their relationship with alcohol, anxiety and sleep.

"We found a positive association between poor sleep and increased level of anxiety and alcohol use, and the more anxiety individuals had, the more they engaged in alcohol use and coping motives for alcohol use," Armstrong said.

This mirrors what research has shown in adults: that poor sleep increases the likelihood of anxiety, and many people self-medicate anxiety symptoms with alcohol. But alcohol also has been shown to be a disrupter of sleep patterns, adding to the cycle.

"Adults with anxiety tend to report more alcohol use, but in adolescence, the association is not quite as consistent or as clear," Bilsky said. "But it could create this sort of path: Once kids initiate alcohol use, they may begin using it to cope.

"Once that pattern begins, it can become a problem."

When she returns to complete her doctorate, Armstrong hopes to continue studying the intersection of mental health and addiction, she said. Understanding these complex relationships can help parents, mentors and health care providers better treat teens.

More research is needed to prove poor sleep patterns can increase the likelihood of alcohol misuse, but this work is a start, Bilsky said.

"Kids who have anxiety who are also using alcohol, if they start to use that alcohol to cope with negative feelings, that can set up a pretty negative path for them, and they are more likely to use alcohol problematically," Bilsky said. "We hypothesize that it starts with sleep, but we can't say it does definitively.

"This was a first stab at looking at these associations. Now, we have to look and see if this hypothesis replicates in future examinations."

Top: By helping their children develop good sleep habits, parents may be able to help ward off problems with anxiety and alcohol abuse down the road, a study by Ole Miss researchers suggests. Graphic by Jordan Thweatt/University Marketing and Communications