Screen time, sleep quality and mental health among adolescents of secondary schools in Dharan

TL;DR

Adolescents in Dharan spend more than the recommended screen time, which is linked to poor sleep and mental health.

Contribution

This study identifies a significant correlation between excessive screen time and poor sleep and mental health in adolescents.

Findings

Adolescents had a mean screen time of 4.93 hours per day, exceeding the recommended two hours.

40.2% of adolescents had poor sleep quality and 46.3% had poor mental health.

Screen time was significantly associated with sleep quality and mental health scores.

Abstract

Today’s generation children and adolescents are growing up with electronic media. Although the recommended screen time is up to two hours for adolescents, the screen exceeds the recommended limit. Excessive use of screen devices has resulted in decreased sleep and had a negative impact on mental health of adolescents. The objectives of the study were to assess the screen time, sleep quality and mental health among adolescence of secondary schools in Dharan and to find out the association of screen time with socio demographic variables, sleep quality and mental health. Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 259 secondary level students of Dharan. Two government and two private school were selected by simple random sampling technique. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Data was collected using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Patient Health Questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 11.5. The mean screen time of respondents was 4.93 ± 2.11 hours per day and mean sleep duration was 6.73 ± 1.41 hours. The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 40.2% and poor mental health was 46.3%. Screen time was significantly associated with type of school (p = 0.006). There was significant association of sleep quality with screen time for entertainment (p = 0.002), total screen time (p = 0.01) and time of maximum use (p = 0.04). Mental health was significantly associated with screen time for entertainment (p = 0.011) and total screen time (p = 0.013). Mental health score was positively correlated with screen time. This study concludes that adolescents have higher screen time than recommended and a significant proportion of adolescents have poor sleep quality and poor mental health. Screen time is statistically significant and positively correlated with sleep quality and mental health scores.

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