Starting an hour later: Adolescents’ concerns and positive expectations regarding introducing later school start times—A qualitative study

IF 4.8 2区医学 Q2 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Sleep Health Pub Date : 2026-08-01 Epub Date: 2026-05-26 DOI:10.1016/j.sleh.2026.04.009

Elizabeth Thalin MSc, Gunilla Björling PhD, Amir Pakpour PhD, Karina Huus PhD, Anders Broström PhD, Staffan Bengtsson PhD, Marit Eriksson PhD, Malin Jakobsson PhD

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

Adequate sleep and a schedule aligned with circadian rhythms are essential for healthy development in adolescents. One strategy to improve sleep, mental health, and academic performance is to delay school start times. A few Swedish schools have implemented later school start times, but these changes or the perceptions of these changes have not been formally studied. The present study aimed to illuminate adolescents’ concerns and positive expectations regarding later school start times.

Methods

The study included 314 adolescents aged 13-15 years (52% self-identified as girls) at 2 secondary schools in Sweden. Adolescents were to start their school days an hour later, from 8:00-9:00 am, beginning in August 2024. Data were collected from June 2024-August 2024 through 28 individual interviews and one open-ended survey question answered by 286 adolescents. These data were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis.

Results

Adolescents’ concerns and positive expectations were summarized into 4 categories. They expected the change to result in altered morning routines, as well as improved well-being and performance during the school day. They also anticipated changes in leisure time, with more energy but less free time, and both improvements (longer sleep duration and easier sleep onset) and potential drawbacks (later bedtimes) regarding sleep. Their views reflected both enthusiasm and apprehension, thereby highlighting ambivalence toward the upcoming change.

Conclusion

The impending shift to later school start times was largely viewed positively, offering hopes of better sleep and well-being, including longer sleep duration and an easier time falling asleep due to reduced pressure to go to bed early. However, the impending shift also raised concerns regarding longer school days and less leisure time. These findings indicate a predominantly positive perspective, although some ambivalence remains about both opportunities and challenges. Follow-up research should further clarify adolescents’ experiences.

查看原文本刊更多论文

推迟一小时上学：青少年对推迟上学时间的关注和积极期望——一项定性研究。

目的：充足的睡眠和符合昼夜节律的时间表对青少年的健康发育至关重要。改善睡眠、心理健康和学习成绩的一个策略是推迟上学时间。一些瑞典学校推迟了上课时间，但这些变化或对这些变化的看法尚未得到正式研究。本研究旨在阐明青少年对推迟上学时间的关注和积极期望。方法：该研究包括瑞典2所中学的314名13-15岁的青少年（52%自认为是女孩）。从2024年8月开始，青少年的上学时间要晚一个小时，从8:00-9:00 开始。数据收集时间为2024年6月至2024年8月，共对286名青少年进行了28次个人访谈和1个开放式问卷调查。对这些数据进行归纳定性含量分析。结果：青少年的担忧和积极期望被归纳为4类。他们希望这一改变能改变孩子们早上的日常生活，并改善他们在校期间的健康状况和表现。他们还预测了休闲时间的变化，精力更多，自由时间更少，以及睡眠方面的改善（睡眠时间更长，更容易入睡）和潜在的缺点（就寝时间晚）。他们的观点反映了热情和忧虑，从而突出了对即将到来的变化的矛盾心理。结论：即将到来的延迟上学时间的转变在很大程度上是积极的，提供了更好的睡眠和健康的希望，包括更长的睡眠时间和更容易入睡，因为减少了早睡的压力。然而，即将到来的转变也引起了人们对上学时间延长和休闲时间减少的担忧。这些发现表明了一个主要积极的观点，尽管一些矛盾心理仍然存在于机遇和挑战。后续研究应进一步阐明青少年的经历。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sleep Health CLINICAL NEUROLOGY-

CiteScore

6.30

自引率

9.80%

发文量

114

审稿时长

54 days

期刊介绍： Sleep Health Journal of the National Sleep Foundation is a multidisciplinary journal that explores sleep''s role in population health and elucidates the social science perspective on sleep and health. Aligned with the National Sleep Foundation''s global authoritative, evidence-based voice for sleep health, the journal serves as the foremost publication for manuscripts that advance the sleep health of all members of society.The scope of the journal extends across diverse sleep-related fields, including anthropology, education, health services research, human development, international health, law, mental health, nursing, nutrition, psychology, public health, public policy, fatigue management, transportation, social work, and sociology. The journal welcomes original research articles, review articles, brief reports, special articles, letters to the editor, editorials, and commentaries.