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.