Sex Moderates Relationships Among School Night Sleep Duration, Social Jetlag, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

Abstract

Social jetlag, a misalignment between sleep timing on the weekend and work week, is associated with depressive symptoms among adults across both sexes. One prior study found that later sleep timing was associated with depressive symptoms in women but not men. To date, however, no research has investigated whether the association between social jetlag and depression varies by sex among adolescents. The current study assessed self-reported sleep, depressive symptoms, and demographic information from 3,058 adolescents (48% female, mean ± SD age 15.59 ± .77 years) from the age 15 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). Social jetlag was calculated as the absolute value of the midpoint of sleep on the weekend minus the midpoint of sleep during the school week. Depressive symptoms were measured through a modified 5-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). We assessed whether the associations between sleep duration on school nights, social jetlag, and depressive symptoms were similar between male and female adolescents using multiple linear regression. In fully adjusted models, sex moderated the association between school night TST and depressive symptoms (p < .001) and between social jetlag and depressive symptoms (p = .037). In females, but not in males, school night TST was negatively associated with depressive symptoms (p <. 001), while social jetlag (p < .001) was positively and independently associated with depressive symptoms. The results indicate the importance of regular sleep timing across the week and adequate sleep duration for maintenance of optimal emotional health among female adolescents.

Are one-year changes in adherence to the 24-hour Movement Guidelines associated with depressive symptoms among youth?

“…Results bolster calls to give sleep the same attention traditionally devoted to PA and screen use. Our findings augment evidence of an inverse association between sleep and depressive symptoms (39,(41)(42)(43)45,52,53) and conflict with studies that found no prospective effect (54,77)or an effect in females only (46,47). Once considered a core symptom or comorbidity of depressive disorders, some now identify sleep problems as both a prodromal manifestation and an independent risk factor for subsequent episodes, predicting the occurrence and outcome of depressive disorders (78).…”

“…However, while cross-sectional associations between short sleep and depressive symptoms are well established (39,(41)(42)(43)(44); a paucity of longitudinal population-level research exists and available prospective evidence is inconsistent. Some results suggest a bidirectional relationship or reverse causality (29,31,45), and others signify sex and gender differences; often with inverse associations between sleep duration and depressive symptoms in females only, and weaker or null effects in males (46,47).…”

Social Jetlag and Its Association With Screen Time and Nighttime Texting Among Adolescents in Sweden: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Multivariate binary logistic regression was used to analyze the adjusted OR between the dependent and independent variables, thus controlling for the possible effect modifiers and potential confounders in the binary logistic regression models. Different kinds of electronic use and social jetlag have been shown to be significantly affected by socio-economic status, age, and sex in earlier studies Short and Louca, 2015;Komada et al, 2019;Mathew et al, 2019). Therefore, in this study, these three factors were adjusted in the multivariate binary logistic regression analysis model.…”

“…In studies among adolescents, social jetlag has been found to be associated with an unhealthy dietary pattern, depressive symptoms, and multiple metabolic risks (Levandovski et al, 2011;Wong et al, 2015;Koopman et al, 2017;Almoosawi et al, 2018;Mota et al, 2019). Surprisingly, female participants with social jetlag had more depressive symptoms compared to men (Mathew et al, 2019).…”

Are one-year changes in adherence to the 24-hour movement guidelines associated with depressive symptoms among youth?

“…Some results suggest a bi-directional relationship or reverse causality (29,31,43), and others signify sex and gender differences; often with inverse associations between sleep duration and depressive symptoms in females only, and weaker or null effects in males (44,45).…”