Associations of health literacy and sleep quality with depressive symptoms in Turkish adolescents: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the associations of health literacy and sleep quality with depressive symptoms in adolescents.

Design and methods

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 1081 high school students in Turkey. The data were collected online using the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children Scale, Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children. The chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data obtained from the scales.

Results

The prevalence of depressive symptoms, sleep problems, and low health literacy was 78.4%, 70.6%, and 11.3%, respectively. Sleep problems were significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms (OR = 4.187, 95% CI: 2.998 —5.848). The students who were experiencing sleep problems and had low health literacy were at risk of the most severe depressive symptoms (OR = 12.696, 95% CI: 5.122—31.474).

Conclusions

Overall, depressive symptoms and sleep problems were common among the adolescents in the study sample. The students who had sleep problems and low health literacy were at an increased risk for depressive symptoms.

Practical implications

To prevent mental health problems in adolescents, intervention programs focused on increasing the health literacy levels and improving sleep quality in this population are recommended.