A Salutogenic Exploration of Social Complexities Associated With Adolescent Sleep to Inform Australian Secondary Schools

There have been global concerns regarding adolescent sleep. This exploratory study assessed the appropriateness of six possible strategies to address these concerns for two Australian schools. Data from a one-off quantitative survey (N = 307) validated 11 instruments of sleep and social characteristics using Rasch analysis. The combined sleep data showed that 78.8% of students reported acceptable levels of sleep. Modelling using a salutogenic framework highlighted that school-wide strategies are unlikely to be effective in changing sleep, and some may even be unintentionally harmful. Thus, it is recommended that schools, researchers and policymakers proceed with caution when promoting adolescent sleep through schools.