The impact of adolescent's daily electronic media use on sleep: Insights from adolescent's and their mother's point of view

Several studies demonstrated that electronic media use (EMU) is negatively associated with sleep in adolescents. Most studies however are cross-sectional, self- or parents reports, and not distinguishing between different EMU types. Therefore, this study aimed to examine associations between adolescent's EMU and sleep reported by adolescents and from their mothers' perspective in a dyadic ambulatory assessment design. One hundred and five mother-adolescent dyads reported for 14 consecutive days adolescent's EMU for different EMU types and sleep duration. Mothers reported less EMU in the evening and more sleep of their adolescents than adolescents themselves. Multilevel analyses revealed that at the between- and within-person level, EMU in the evening was negatively associated with sleep. Different EMU types differed in effect sizes of associations with sleep. No effects were found for watching TV/DVD/video, whereas for gaming at the between- and within-person level, negative associations with sleep duration were found. For PC/tablet and smartphone use in the evening significant between-person association with sleep duration for adolescent's self-reports and from mother's point of view was found. It is important to investigate adolescent's EMU on a daily basis, from a dyadic perspective, and for different EMU types separately.