Reasons behind Sleep Deprivation among Adolescents: Evidence from Beijing

Abstract

Although current studies have examined the association between multiple variables and sleep deprivation among adolescents, such as the use of electronic devices and stress, few studies managed to disassociate the variables and examine the impact of each one on sleep individually. The objective of this study is to examine which factor between the use of electronic devices, workload, stress and basic psychological needs of an individual has the most impact on sleep duration and quality of adolescents. 16 participants volunteered for this research measuring their sleep and deep sleep through commercially available smart band provided. They self-reported the sleep data recorded along with the amount of time spent on electronic devices and schoolwork, and a rating of workload and stress on a scale of 1-10 through a period of 38 days. Participants then completed a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire and a Self-Determination Theory questionnaire. Results show that stress has the most impact on both sleep duration and quality. The fulfillment of an individual’s psychological needs highly correlates with sleep: the unmet psychological needs directly influence other variables such as stress level which will affect sleep. This research shows inconsistency during data analysis when different method is applied potentially due to time constrain of this research, future research is needed to prove the validity of the finding.