Abstract
Objectives
We examined changes in sleep-onset difficulties over time and associations with physical activity and screen time behavior among adolescents.
Methods
We used data from last four survey waves of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study (2002–2006–2010–2014). Multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore associations between regular sleeping difficulties, excessive screen time exposure and being insufficiently physically active (i.e., < 60 min daily) among 33 European and non-European countries.
Results
Findings indicate an increase in the prevalence of sleep-onset difficulties and in excessive screen time exposure and a small but significant increase in physical activity levels. Additionally, adolescents exceeding 2-h daily screen time had 20% higher odds of reporting sleep-onset difficulties, while no association was found for physical activity. The strength of the association between screen time and sleep-onset difficulties increased over time, which may reflect a change in type of screen time use (e.g., the increased use of easy accessible screens such as smartphones and tablets).
Conclusions
Effective strategies to reduce screen time are key to reverse the detrimental trend in sleep-onset difficulties among adolescents.
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Acknowledgements
The International Coordinator of the 2002–2014 HBSC surveys was Candace Currie. Data Bank Manager was Oddrun Samdal.
Funding
The study was funded by the government of Flanders (Grant No. GEO-1GDD2A-WT) and the Research Foundation Flanders (Grant No. 12I1117N).
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. HBSC is a WHO collaborative study and as such fulfills all WHO ethical requirements. The study is approved in each country separately by national or ministry ethical committees. The Flemish study was approved by the ethical committee of the University Hospital of Ghent (Project EC/2013/1145).
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Ghekiere, A., Van Cauwenberg, J., Vandendriessche, A. et al. Trends in sleeping difficulties among European adolescents: Are these associated with physical inactivity and excessive screen time?. Int J Public Health 64, 487–498 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-018-1188-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-018-1188-1