Exposure to Electronic Media and Its Influenceon Sleep among Jewish and Arab Adolescents

Sondos Ali Salah Abo Ganim

doi:10.14746/se.2017.46.29

Abstract

Sleep is important to physical and mental development. Studies show that adolescents suffer from electronic media exposure-related inadequate and non-quality sleep. In Israel, traditional, conserva-tive Arab society is undergoing a modernization process with exposure to the Western lifestyle and Israeli Jewish culture. This comparative cross-sectional study compared electronic media exposure’s impact on sleep in secular Jewish and Arab society in Israel, involving 229 middle and high school adolescents, 118 Arabs and 111 Jews. Research tools were the School Sleep Habits Survey (SSHS) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Jewish adolescents are more exposed to electronic media than are Arab adolescents only during mid-week. Weak but significantcorrelations were found between late night use of electronic media and sleep duration; increased exposure to television (r = -0.17, p = .01), mobile telephone r = -0.21, p = .002), and tablet (r = -0.14, p = .02) related to shorter sleep duration and longer sleep latency mid-week in both groups and later weekend wake-up time. Arab adolescents are sleepier during the day and have more sleep-related behavior problems. As electronic media exposure rises, sleep duration shortens, and sleep time is postponed in both cultures. Exposure to electronic media is higher among Jewish adolescents. Boys sleep longer than girls during the week (a difference of nearly an hour).

Highlights

Ganim Abo Salah Ali Sondos, Exposure to Electronic Media and Its Influence on Sleep among Jewish and Arab Adolescents [Wpływ mediów elektronicznych na sen nastolatków żydowskich i arabskich]
The findings indicated a considerable rise in the existence of media devices among adolescents in comparison to the previous study according to which only about two-thirds of the youths had a television device in their room and about one-third had a computer in their room.[21]
The adolescents’ reports found that in the middle of the week the increased use of the mobile phone and the tablet at night in the late hours was related to a short sleep duration and the use of the mobile phone at the late hours of night was related to a long sleep latency and a late wake-up time

Summary

Introduction

Ganim Abo Salah Ali Sondos, Exposure to Electronic Media and Its Influence on Sleep among Jewish and Arab Adolescents [Wpływ mediów elektronicznych na sen nastolatków żydowskich i arabskich]. Studies show that adolescents suffer from electronic media exposure-related inadequate and non-quality sleep. In Israel, traditional, conservative Arab society is undergoing a modernization process with exposure to the Western lifestyle and Israeli Jewish culture. This comparative cross-sectional study compared electronic media exposure’s impact on sleep in secular Jewish and Arab society in Israel, involving 229 middle and high school adolescents, 118 Arabs and 111 Jews. Weak but significant correlations were found between late night use of electronic media and sleep duration; increased exposure to television (r = -0.17, p = .01), mobile telephone r = -0.21, p = .002), and tablet (r = -0.14, p = .02) related to shorter sleep duration and longer sleep latency mid-week in both groups and later weekend wake-up time. Flint-Bretler, The influence of parental intervention on the exposure to media and sleep patterns among adolescents, Haifa 2013

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion