Screen use before sleep and emotional problems among adolescents: Preliminary evidence of mediating effect of chronotype and social jetlag

Screen use before sleep is shown to be positively related to emotional problems. However, whether this relationship was mediated by circadian phenotypes (i.e., chronotype and social jetlag) remains unclear. Data from two independent adolescent surveys among 2685 and 1368 adolescents, respectively, were used. Adolescents reported screen use before sleep (yes/no and screen time), chronotype, social jetlag, and emotional problems using questionnaires. Serial mediation analyses were performed. Adolescents who reported screen use before sleep showed later chronotype and greater social jetlag, which was further associated with a higher level of emotional problems. Such relationships held for screen use as a yes/no variable and screen time. The serial indirect effect of chronotype and social jetlag accounted for 6.2%–16.7% of the total effect of screen use before sleep on emotional problems. The use of a cross-sectional design did not allow the establishment of causal links between the variables. All data were self-reported by adolescents, and might be subject to report bias and recall bias. These findings contributed to the existing literature by examining the mediating effect of chronotype and social jetlag in the relationship between screen use before sleep and emotional problems from a circadian rhythm perspective. Healthy media use habits and interventions targeting circadian characteristics may work towards promoting emotional health in adolescents.