Social jetlag and sleep habits in children and adolescents: Associations with autonomy (bedtime setting and electronics curfew) and electronic media use before sleep.

Abstract

For young people attending school, social jetlag (SJL) refers to discrepancy in sleep/wake timing between school days and weekends. This study investigated SJL in school-aged children and adolescents in England and whether this is associated with age, gender, and sleep habits including bedtimes and electronic media use. Students (school y 5-13; typical age 9-18 y) completed the 2021 OxWell Student Survey. In total 19,760 participants (55% female) reported on sleep/wake timing, rules concerning bedtime setting on school night/weekend, electronic media curfew, and frequency of social media use and video gaming before sleep intention. The mean SJL was 1 h 53 min (SD = 1 h 7 min) and peaked at 2 h 7 min at age 15. Multiple regression analysis revealed SJL was positively associated with age and being male was associated with slightly lower SJL than being female. After controlling for age and gender, weekend bedtime setting (β = 0.21), frequency of social media use before sleep (β = 0.16) and video gaming before sleep (β = 0.12) were the strongest predictors of SJL. Findings suggest that household rules regarding weekend bedtimes and less electronic media use before sleep may be connected with lower SJL as well as more regular sleep timing across the whole week.