# Maintaining behavior change: A 6-year follow-up of adolescent 'night-owls' and an evaluation of a habit-based sleep health intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · 2024 · $711,142

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Youth who exhibit an evening circadian chronotype (“night-owls”) follow a delayed sleep schedule, increasing
activity later in the day and both going to sleep and getting up later, compared to morning types
(“larks”). Eveningness arises from a confluence of psychosocial, behavioral and biological factors and is an
important contributor to vicious cycles that escalate vulnerability and risk among youth. While the basic
biological shift toward eveningness—initially triggered around the onset of puberty—may be difficult to modify,
the psychosocial and behavioral contributors are modifiable. Supported by R01HD071065, we have conducted
a “treatment experiment” in which we delivered the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention for Youth
(TranS-C) to reduce eveningness among 10-18 year olds. We randomly allocated youth with an evening
chronotype, and who were “at risk” in at least one of five health-relevant domains (emotional, cognitive,
behavioral, social, physical), to either: (a) TranS-C (n = 89) or (b) Psychoeducation (n = 87). While the results
were promising, some drop off in treatment gains were observed. This is consistent with prior research
documenting that a drop-off in the years following treatment is too commonly observed. Indeed, there have
been calls to study if and how behavioral interventions are maintained (NOT-OD-19-040). Hence, in this
revised renewal application, we propose to study the maintenance of behavior change by conducting a 6-year
follow-up of the unique cohort of youth recruited for R01HD071065. The youth will be 16 to 26 years old. They
will be assessed for sleep and circadian functioning and functioning in five health-relevant domains (emotional,
cognitive, behavioral, social, physical) (SA1) and for their utilization of sleep health behavior (SA2). As a next
step in this research program, we propose to evaluate if a Habit-based Sleep Health Intervention
(“HABITs”)—a novel low-cost approach derived by leveraging the science of habit formation—improves the
utilization of sleep health behavior and improves sleep and circadian outcomes and functioning in the five
health-relevant domain outcomes in the short and longer term (SA3). An independent sample of youth who
exhibit a high level of eveningness and are “at risk” in at least one of the five health-relevant domains will be
randomly allocated to HABITs alone or HABITs plus Text Messaging (“HABITs+Texts”) (n = 160). The text
messaging portion is derived from learning theory, the Behavior Change Wheel and focus groups. We will also
examine if sleep health behavior that has become habitual mediates the effects of treatment on improvement
in sleep, circadian and health outcomes. Moderation analyses will examine if intervention effectiveness is
related to age/developmental stage, sex, SES, racial/ethnic minority group and season of participation. This
research will advance knowledge on longer-term outcomes, the role of eveningness as a mechani...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10909247
- **Project number:** 5R01HD071065-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Allison G Harvey
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $711,142
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-08-29 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10909247

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10909247, Maintaining behavior change: A 6-year follow-up of adolescent 'night-owls' and an evaluation of a habit-based sleep health intervention (5R01HD071065-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10909247. Licensed CC0.

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