Electronic Devices Use Association with Psychological Distress and Sleep among Adolescents
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Maysoun Atoum 1 * , Sami Al-Rawashdeh 2, Dina Atoum 3, Hadeel Atoum 4, Rand Atoum 5
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1 PhD, RN. Teacher, Department of Community and Mental Health Nursing,The Hashemite University, Faculty of Nursing, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, JORDAN2 PhD, RN. Associate Professor, Department of Community and Mental Health Nursing, The Hashemite University, Faculty of Nursing, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, JORDAN3 PH. The Hashemite University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical sciences, Zarqa, JORDAN4 MD. The Hashemite University, Faculty of Medicine, Zarqa, JORDAN5 PH. Jordan University of Science & Technology (JUST), Faculty of Pharmacy, Irbid, JORDAN* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents’ electronic devices (e-devices) use is an emerging issue that may influence their emotions and sleep. The relations between e-devices use and psychological distress of stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep in this population are not well examined. This study aimed to describe e-devices use and psychological distress and sleep in a sample of adolescents and examine the relationships between e-devices use and psychological distress and sleep.
Design: This descriptive comparative study utilized cross-sectional collected data on e-devices use, psychological distress, and sleep from 485 randomly selected Jordanian adolescents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in this study.
Results: About 99% of the subjects reported using e-devices for a mean of 5 hours/day. Subjects reported an average of 8 hours of sleep /day, though two-thirds of them reported not getting enough sleep. About 17%, 37.9%, 20.2%, and 10% of the subjects had severe to extremely severe levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and moderate to severe insomnia, respectively. The stress and anxiety scores were significantly higher (worse) in high- compared to low- e-devices users. The difference in insomnia scores approached the significance level (p 0.06), with high e-devices users had poorer scores.
Conclusion: E-devices use is a widespread behavior among Jordanian adolescents. This study demonstrated the negative relationship between e-devices use and psychological distress, especially among female adolescents. It supports targeting adolescents’ e-devices users to promote their mental health.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 18, Issue 6, December 2021, Article No: em327

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/11314

Publication date: 03 Nov 2021

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