Relationship between internet addiction and sleep disturbance in high school students: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background: As the number of Internet users around the world increases, so does the dependency on the Internet. In adolescents this dependence interferes with sleep, which is important for the development of their psychophysiological capabilities. However, few large-scale surveys have examined the relationship between internet addiction (IA) and sleep disturbance in detail using standardized questionnaires. This study aimed to determine the relationship between sleep disturbance in adolescents and IA according to the categories of the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire (YDQ) through a complete survey of one prefecture in Japan. Methods: In 2016, a self-administered questionnaire was used to survey high school students (n=10,405) in all 54 daytime high schools in one prefecture. In this study, “sleep disturbance” was defined as achieving over 5.5 points on the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. IA was evaluated using the YDQ: “IA,” when 5 of the 8 YDQ items were applied; “at-risk,” when either 3 or 4 YDQ items were applied; and “non-IA,” when less than 2 YDQ items were applied. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed, with sleep disturbance as the dependent variable, IA as the explanatory variable, and adjustments made for 8 items, including the frequency of skipped meals. Results: High YDQ scores were associated with high prevalence rates of sleep disturbance in both male and female participants; the higher the score, higher was the rate. On multiple logistic regression analysis for both male and female participants, higher YDQ scores showed higher adjusted odds ratios for sleep disturbances. Conclusions: For high school students within one prefecture in Japan, higher YDQ scores, which indicate internet dependency, were significantly related to sleep disturbance, suggesting that the likelihood of sleep disturbance increases with YDQ scores.