Associations between Sleep and Mental Health in Adolescents: Results from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Abstract

(1) Background: There is a growing interest in investigating the relationship between sleep and mental health development in adolescents. This study aims to further investigate this relationship by identifying the specific associations between several sleep problems in adolescents and several mental health areas, and the role of gender in these associations. (2) Methods: Data from the Millennium cohort survey containing 11,553 individuals at 13–14 years old was included. Nighttime sleep duration and bedtime during weekdays and weekends, night awakening frequency, and sleep onset latency were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. Affective symptom and emotional and behavioural problems were examined with self-reported questionnaires. (3) Results: Regression analyses and path analysis models suggested that frequent night awakening was associated with all the outcomes, and hyperactivity/inattention was the outcome that presented a higher number of significant associations with sleep patterns. Long sleep onset latency and late bedtime at school days were associated with higher risk of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Further, poor sleep seems to manifest more externally in males, while more internally in females. (4) Conclusions: Specific sleep problems should be considered when assessing mental health in adolescence, which would allow more targeted prevention and intervention strategies. Further, special attention should be given to gender differences when addressing sleep and mental health.

Characteristics of 24-hour movement behaviours and their associations with mental health in children and adolescents

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Student profiles of physical activity, screen time, sleep quality and dietary habits and their association with mental health and school satisfaction: An exploratory study

“…Specifically, the PDS profile presented the lowest scores for all mental health scubscales. While sleep has not been as well investigated as physical activity and sedentary behavior (e.g., screen time) in children and adolescents (Wilhite et al, 2023), the extant research on sleep clearly demonstrates the critical importance of sleep quality and sleep duration to mental health, especially during late childhood and adolescence (e.g., Coulombe et al, 2011;McMakin & Alfano, 2015;Qiu & Morales-Muñoz, 2022). In a survey study of 4250 youth ages 5-17, Bang et al (2020) found that sleep duration was a particularly important correlate of psychosocial health compared to physical activity and screen time and the authors considered the finding to be clinically meaningful.…”