Dec 06, 2013 08:07 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Children raised by strict parents are more likely to get sufficient amount of sleep each night, according to a new University of Cincinnati study. Researchers said that social ties, including relationships with peers and parents, impacts sleep patterns among adolescents.

"Research shows that parents who keep tabs on their kids are less likely to see them get into trouble or use drugs and alcohol," study researcher David J. Maume, a sociology professor at the university, said in a statement. "My findings suggest a similar dynamic with sleep. Parents who monitor their children's behavior are more likely to have kids that get adequate rest. Given that children generally get less sleep as they become teenagers, parents should be ever more vigilant at this stage."

For the study, the researchers observed around 1,000 teens, aged 12 to 15, from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. They found that children who are closely monitored by their parents are more likely to get adequate sleep. These children were also less likely to involve in drugs and alcohol.

Researchers recommended that parents should be more watchful about the kids' sleep as they grow into their teens.

 "When adolescents have trouble sleeping, doctors often recommend prescription drugs to address the problem," Maume said. "My research indicates that it's necessary to look beyond biology when seeking to understand and treat adolescents' sleep problems. Such an approach may lead to more counseling or greater parental involvement in teens' lives, both of which are less invasive than commonly-prescribed medical solutions and, at least in the case of parental involvement, cheaper."

The study titled, "Social Ties and Adolescent Sleep Disruption," appears in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

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