Mobile Phones in the Bedroom: Impact on Adolescent Sleep

Open Access
- Author:
- Snyder, Cynthia K
- Graduate Program:
- Nursing
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 10, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Susan Jayne Loeb, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Susan Jayne Loeb, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Judith E Hupcey, Committee Member
Deepa Sekhar, Committee Member
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Outside Member
Anne-Marie Chang, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Anne-Marie Chang, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Lisa Ann Kitko, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- adolescent
mobile phone
sleep
attitudes
beliefs - Abstract:
- Adolescent mobile phone use is ubiquitous, including after lights out and during the night. Insufficient sleep in adolescents is a public health concern, with nearly 75% of high school students obtaining less than the optimal nightly sleep duration. Poor sleep is associated with negative health consequences, such as weight gain, hypertension, depression, poorer academic performance, increased injury and risk-taking. Normal biopsychosocial adolescent development includes puberty-related sleep changes, prefrontal cortex maturational changes affecting decision-making ability, and increasing reliance on peer relationships with the need for constant connectivity to the social network. Electronic device use impacts normal sleep by time displacement, disruption to circadian timing by blue light exposure, and psychological stimulation related to media content. Although normal adolescent sleep patterns are described in the literature, information is lacking on the psychosocial factors associated with adolescents’ mobile phone use after lights out and the effects on sleep. The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes, behaviors, and sleep patterns of adolescents who use mobile phones in the bedroom setting after lights out. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, a descriptive, correlational study with prospective micro-longitudinal data collection was conducted to address the study aims: to determine which mobile phone functions adolescents are using after lights out; to identify what factors contribute to adolescents’ mobile phone use after lights out; and to describe adolescents’ sleep patterns when using mobile phones after lights out. A convenience sample of adolescents, 13-17 years of age, was recruited for a 1-week study, with repeated self-report measures of mobile phone use and wrist actigraphy to measure sleep outcomes. Study participants completed a series of surveys as baseline measures including demographics survey, Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS), Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale-10 (MPPUS-10), Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire for Children (M/E Scale), and Sleep Practices and Attitudes Questionnaire (SPAQ). The SPAQ has not previously been used in adolescents. Participants wore a wrist actigraphy device for 7 days, with daily self-report diary entries of sleep habits and mobile phone use after lights out. Data were analyzed by descriptive methods, chi square, independent t-test, correlation, and binary logistic regression. A total of 34 adolescents were recruited from Penn State Health ambulatory specialty clinics, via Penn State StudyFinder, and via a social media link to StudyFinder placed by a parent of a potential participant. The sample was primarily female (61.8%), Caucasian (94.1%), non-Hispanic (94.1%), and 14.5 (SD = 1.28) years of age. Social media was the most commonly used mobile phone function by study participants after lights out. No significant differences were observed for gender or caffeine use and mobile phone use after lights out. Adolescents who engaged in higher average nightly mobile phone use had a significantly lower value of the importance of sleep. No significant differences were observed between sleep patterns, including sleep duration, wake after sleep onset, sleep maintenance efficiency, and sleep quality and average nightly minutes of mobile phone use after lights out. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic which required modifications in research procedures. In addition, the usual adolescent lifestyle was disrupted with closure of school and social events with altered sleep and mobile phone usage patterns. Effects of the importance of the peer group were evident among study participants with the influence of the social network as a recruitment tool, a frequently used mobile phone function, and a source of beliefs which lends support to the theoretical framework for decision-making behavior, and a basis for future research.