Research covered by the CBC has found that children and teens that stay up late and have a lot of activity late at night are more prone to behavior problems and rule-breaking. Essentially, the authors concluded that,

“Eveningness contributes to lack of sleep, and this in turn causes problems such as lack of control and attention regulation, which are associated with antisocial behaviour and substance use,” Susman said.”

I would propose a different explanation. Kids who are staying up late are likely to have parents that either stay up late or are bad at setting boundaries and limits (a permissive parenting style). When kids grow up without parents being able to enforce limits like a regular bed time, the kids are then more likely to have behavioral and substance-abuse problems later in life. How easily it is to forget these simple ideas in the age of biology.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 19 Jul 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.