Intense and problematic social media use and sleep difficulties of adolescents in 40 countries
Khan A, Thomas G, Karatela S, Morawska A, Werner-Seidler A
Journal of adolescence · 18 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- World Health Organization
- University or hospital
- University of Queensland
- University or hospital
- Universitetet i Bergen
Based on 3 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2024-04-03 · J Adolesc · vol. 96 · issue 5 · pp. 1116–1125
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 27 citations · more than 99% of similar papers · 20.4× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 38 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY-NC-ND
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Sleep and related disorders · Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- social media use, social media addiction, sleep onset difficulty, sleep disorders, adolescents, gender differences, cross-national comparison
- MeSH
- humans, adolescent behavior, adolescent, child, north america, europe, female, male, social media, surveys and questionnaires, sleep wake disorders, internet addiction disorder
5 authors
From AU
- Asaduzzaman Khan · correspondingThe University of Queensland
- George ThomasThe University of Queensland
- Shamshad KaratelaThe University of Queensland
- Alina MorawskaThe University of Queensland
- Aliza Werner‐SeidlerBlack Dog Institute; UNSW Sydney
Abstract
Introduction
Social media has become a ubiquitous part of everyday life; however, evidence suggests patterns of social media use can affect sleep health in children and adolescents. This study aimed to examine the associations of intense and problematic social media use (SMU) with sleep-onset difficulties in adolescence.
Methods
We analysed data from 212,613 adolescents aged 11-15 years (51.1% girls) from 40 European and North American countries that participated in the 2017/2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Intense SMU assessed how often respondents had online contact through social media, and problematic SMU was assessed by symptoms of addiction to social media. Sleep-onset difficulties were assessed using a self-reported item. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression was used to obtain the estimates.
Results
Sleep-onset difficulties were more common among girls than boys (27.1% vs 20.8%). Intense SMU was significantly associated with sleep-onset difficulties in boys in 17 countries and in girls in 25 countries, while problematic SMU was significantly associated in most of the participating countries. Overall, exposure to problematic SMU alone was highly associated with sleep-onset difficulties both in girls (OR 2.20, 2.04-2.38) and boys (OR 1.88, 1.73-2.04), while the association estimates for intense SMU were smaller and comparable across gender (Girls: OR 1.27, 1.23-1.31; Boys: OR 1.22, 1.18-1.27). Sensitivity analyses supported the above findings.
Conclusions
Intense and/or problematic SMU were associated with sleep-onset difficulties across gender with associations being higher for problematic compared to intense SMU. Prospective research with objective measures is needed to understand the causal mechanisms underlying these relationships.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC-ND).
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