Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Nov 17;33(2).
doi: 10.1515/ijamh-2018-0095.

Adolescents' smartphone use at night, sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms

Rian Kusuma Dewi  1 , Ferry Efendi  1 , Eka Mishbahatul M Has  1 , Joko Gunawan  2
Affiliations

Adolescents' smartphone use at night, sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms

Rian Kusuma Dewi et al. Int J Adolesc Med Health. .

Abstract

Nowadays smartphones are used anywhere and at any time, day or night, by adolescents. Smartphone use, especially at night, is a risk factor for sleep disturbance and depression in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to analyse the correlation between smartphone use at night, sleep disturbance and depression symptoms in adolescents. This cross-sectional study analysed the data from 714 students in Surabaya, who were selected by using a simple random sampling technique. The independent variable was smartphone usage at night while the dependent variable was sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms. The data was collected using three questionnaires: the smartphone usage at night questionnaire, the Insomnia Severity Index questionnaire and the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale questionnaire. The data was then analysed using Spearman's rho analysis (α < 0.05). The results indicated that there was a relationship between the use of smartphones at night and sleep disturbance in adolescents with a positive correlation (r = 0.374), and that there was a relationship between the use of smartphones at night and depression symptoms in adolescents with a positive correlation (r = 0.360). This study highlights that the excessive use of smartphones during the night may play a significant role in sleep problems and depressive symptoms among teenagers. Adolescents with sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms should be carefully monitored for signs of smartphone addiction. Nurses should improve health education for adolescents to inform them about the positive use of smartphones to prevent sleep disturbance and to minimise depressive symptoms.

Keywords: adolescents; depressive symptoms; sleep disturbance; smartphone.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Lim CH, Kim EJ, Kim JH, Lee JS, Lee Y, Park SH. The correlation of depression with Internet use and body image in Korean adolescents. Korean J Pediatr. 2017;60(1):17–23.
    1. Boumosleh JM, Jaalouk D. Depression, anxiety, and smartphone addiction in university students – a cross sectional study. PLoS One. 2017;12(8):e0182239.
    1. Lemola S, Perkinson-Gloor N, Brand S, Dewald-Kaufmann JF, Grob A. Adolescents’ electronic media use at night, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptoms in the smartphone age. J Youth Adolesc. 2015;44(2):405–18.
    1. Sahin S, Ozdemir K, Unsal A, Temiz N. Evaluation of mobile phone addiction level and sleep quality in university students. Pak J Med Sci. 2013;29(4):913–8.
    1. Nose Y, Fujinaga R, Suzuki M, Hayashi I, Moritani T, Kotani K, et al. Association of evening smartphone use with cardiac autonomic nervous activity after awakening in adolescents living in high school dormitories. Childs Nerv Syst. 2017;33(4):653–8.

LinkOut - more resources