BEHAVIOR: TIRED TODDLERS, TROUBLED TEENS

Boys who had trouble sleeping as toddlers are more likely to become
early users of alcohol and marijuana than those who slept well, a new
study reports. The lead researcher of the study, Dr. Maria M. Wong of
the University of Michigan, said that a link between insomnia and drug
and alcohol abuse had already been found in adults but that the link
had barely been explored earlier in life.

Her study, published on Wednesday in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical
and Experimental Research, drew on data from a long-running project
that tracked 155 sons of alcoholics and 102 boys who were not children
of alcoholics as a comparison group. Dr. Wong compared mothers' ratings
of sleep problems at ages 3 to 5 with the boys' reports of drug,
alcohol and cigarette use at ages 12 to 14. She found that in each
group the boys who had trouble sleeping were more than twice as likely
to have tried alcohol or marijuana by early adolescence than those who
did not. Over all, half of those with sleep problems started using
alcohol early.

Although the reason for a possible link is not clear, Dr. Wong
suggested that sleep problems could be easily tracked by parents and
school personnel to identify children at higher risk for substance
abuse.

"Parents should pay attention to their children's complaints about
insomnia and overtiredness," Dr. Wong said, and they should discuss
them with a pediatrician if they appear serious. "They may also want
to pay attention their children's sleep hygiene, e.g., regular sleep
schedule, adequate amount of sleep, encouraging their children to
engage in relaxing activities right before bedtime."