The effect of mobile phone use at night on the sleep of pre-adolescent, early adolescent, and late adolescent children: A study of 252,195 Australian children

Sleep health · 2022 · Harm · Low evidence

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HarmLow evidencePaper 837

Across pre-adolescent, early adolescent, and late adolescent cohorts, mobile phone use at night (10 PM–6 AM messaging) was associated with lower odds of obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights.

Study snapshot

PublicationSleep health · 2022

Study typecross_sectional

Reported directionHarm

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

The effect of mobile phone use at night on the sleep of pre-adolescent, early adolescent, and late adolescent children: A study of 252,195 Australian children Valentina Salcedo Correa, Stephanie Centofanti, Jillian Dorrian, Andrew Wicking, Peter Wicking, Kurt Lushington. The effect of mobile phone use at night on the sleep of pre-adolescent (8-11 year), early adolescent (12-14 year) and late adolescent (15-18 year) children: A study of 252,195 Australian children. Sleep Health. 2022 Apr 8;S2352-7218(22)00015-8. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2022.02.004. Abstract Objectives: To examine whether the association previously reported between mobile phone use at night and poor sleep in adolescents also generalizes to pre-adolescent children. Design: Cross sectional. Participants: Survey completed by 84,915 pre-adolescent (8-11 years), 99,680 early adolescent (12-14 years) and 67,600 late adolescent Australian children (15-18 years). Measurement: Children were asked how frequently they obtained 8 hours of sleep on most nights and if they used their mobile phone at night to send and receive messages between 10 PM and 6 AM. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between mobile phone use at night and sleeping 8h or more on most nights with gender, socioeconomic status and year of study (2014-2018) as covariates. Results: For all age cohorts including pre-adolescent children, mobile phone use at night was associated with lower odds of obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights. Conclusion: The present findings confirm that the association between mobile phone use at night and poor sleep previously reported in adolescent children also generalises to pre-adolescent children. Given the increased uptake of smartphone devices in ever younger children the findings point to the need to provide parents, schools and communities with resources to promote child sleep hygiene and media use at bedtime. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Machine Enhanced Logic

AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typecross_sectional

Effect directionharm

PopulationAustralian children aged 8–18 years (pre-adolescent 8–11; early adolescent 12–14; late adolescent 15–18)

Sample size252195

Exposurenight-time use between 10 PM and 6 AM (messaging)

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Across pre-adolescent, early adolescent, and late adolescent cohorts, mobile phone use at night (10 PM–6 AM messaging) was associated with lower odds of obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights.

Outcomes measured

Obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights

Limitations

Cross-sectional design (association only; causality not established)
Exposure and sleep measures were self-reported via survey
Exposure defined specifically as using a mobile phone at night to send/receive messages; other types of phone use not described

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "cross_sectional",
  "exposure": {
    "band": null,
    "source": "mobile phone",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": "night-time use between 10 PM and 6 AM (messaging)"
  },
  "population": "Australian children aged 8–18 years (pre-adolescent 8–11; early adolescent 12–14; late adolescent 15–18)",
  "sample_size": 252195,
  "outcomes": [
    "Obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Across pre-adolescent, early adolescent, and late adolescent cohorts, mobile phone use at night (10 PM–6 AM messaging) was associated with lower odds of obtaining 8 hours of sleep on most nights.",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "Cross-sectional design (association only; causality not established)",
    "Exposure and sleep measures were self-reported via survey",
    "Exposure defined specifically as using a mobile phone at night to send/receive messages; other types of phone use not described"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "mobile phone",
    "night-time use",
    "messaging",
    "sleep duration",
    "children",
    "adolescents",
    "Australia",
    "survey",
    "cross-sectional"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": []
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2022.02.004
PubMed: 35400615

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