Internet Addiction and Sleep Problems among Russian Adolescents: A Field School-Based Study.

Sergey Tereshchenko,Margarita Shubina,Edward Kasparov,Marina Smolnikova,Olga Moskalenko,Nina Gorbacheva

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910397

Abstract

This study aims to establish a link between disturbances in the night sleep habitus, quality of sleep, and daytime sleepiness in adolescents with Internet addiction and different types of content consumed. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study of a school sample in three large cities in Central Siberia. 4615 schoolchildren of 12–18 years old were examined. The Russian-language versions of the Chen Internet Addiction Scale, the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents, and the Social Media Disorder Scale were used to identify Internet addiction. Questions from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire were used to assess nighttime sleep. Daytime sleepiness was assessed using the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale questionnaire. Results: Adolescents with Internet addiction go to bed and wake up late; they are characterized by a decrease in the duration of nighttime sleep, an increase in sleep onset latency, and frequent nighttime awakenings, as well as more pronounced daytime sleepiness. Among the sleep parameters studied, the indicators of daytime sleepiness and night awakening scales have the highest effect size in Internet-addicted adolescents, regardless of the media consumed. Conclusion: Internet-addicted adolescents are characterized by significant disturbances in the quality of nighttime sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness, which requires appropriate psychological correction.

Highlights

The last two decades have been characterized by an avalanche-like increase in the prevalence of Internet use in all social groups, especially among adolescents and young adults [1]
This study aims to establish a link between disturbances in the nightly sleep schedule, quality of sleep, and daytime sleepiness in adolescents with Internet addiction and different types of media consumed
Perhaps this is due to gender characteristics of the content consumed by Siberian adolescents: girls were three times more likely to be addicted to social networks, while boys were two times more likely to be addicted to gambling (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The last two decades have been characterized by an avalanche-like increase in the prevalence of Internet use in all social groups, especially among adolescents and young adults [1]. A certain number of Internet users, mainly adolescents and young adults, develop Internet addiction (IA) or “pathological/compulsive use of the Internet”, characterized by a loss of control over the time spent online, an obsessive craving for various types of Internet activities, which often becomes the catalyst for the formation of a wide range of psychosocial and psychosomatic problems. Excessive Internet use (especially when characterized by loss of time or neglecting basic functions): compulsive striving for Internet usage, growing importance of Internet in an adolescent’s system of personal values; Int. J.

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