Sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being in adolescence: a longitudinal study in Switzerland and Norway

Abstract

Background: Adolescents' sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being are related. However, few studies have examined the relationship between sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being longitudinally across adolescence - a time of profound biological and psychosocial change. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether shorter sleep duration in adolescents is predictive of lower subjective psychological well-being 6 months and 12 months later or whether lower subjective psychological well-being is predictive of shorter sleep duration.

Methods: Adolescents (age range, 10.02-15.99 years; mean age, 13.05±1.49 years; 51.8%, female) from German-speaking Switzerland (n=886) and Norway (n=715) reported their sleep duration and subjective psychological well-being on school days using self-rating questionnaires at baseline (T1), 6 months (T2), and 12 months from baseline (T3).

Results: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses revealed that sleep duration decreased with age. Longer sleep duration was concurrently associated with better subjective psychological well-being. Crossed-lagged autoregressive longitudinal panel analysis showed that sleep duration prospectively predicted subjective psychological well-being while there was no evidence for the reverse relationship.

Conclusion: Sleep duration is predictive of subjective psychological well-being. The findings offer further support for the importance of healthy sleep patterns during adolescence.

Keywords: adolescence; international; longitudinal study; psychological well-being; sleep duration.

Figure 1

Longitudinal path model. Notes: Standardized estimates are displayed. Bold letters indicate that this path is significantly different for the respective age group. Fit indices for the displayed model set all paths equal across age groups, except for the path between sleep duration at T2 and sleep duration at T3 for the oldest age group: χ²=28.01; df=23; P=0.215; RMSEA =0.007. Model comparison of the displayed model with the model setting all paths equal across age groups: χ²=23.35; df=1: P<0.001. ^#P=0.08; *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001. Abbreviations: RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; I, 10–11 year olds; II, 12–13 year olds; III, 14–15 year olds; e, error term.