Chen Qiyu, Dai Wenjuan, Li Guangming, Ma Ning
Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Center for Sleep Research, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631 China.
Sleep Biol Rhythms. 2022;20(4):521-531. doi: 10.1007/s41105-022-00398-1. Epub 2022 Jun 16.
Under the burden caused by COVID-19 and rapid lifestyle changes, many people increased their screen time due to psychological needs and social requirements. The current study investigated the between screen time changes and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic of COVID-19. Furthermore, we examined whether sleep and physical activity would mediate the association between screen time changes and anxiety. The self-developed questionnaire was delivered online to collect people's changes in anxiety, sleep patterns, and screen time during COVID-19. 970 participants (74.4% female) with an average age of 23 years were involved in this study. After adjusting demographic variables, the ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed that a significant increase in screen time was linked with anxiety. Slightly increased screen time, slightly and significantly decreased screen time did not predict anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. The level of anxiety was significantly higher among respondents who reported decreased sleep quality. Sleep quality directly mediated the association between screen time changes and anxiety, while sleep latency did not. The longer sleep latency caused by increased screen time would amplify anxiety by affecting sleep quality. In addition, the relationship between screen time changes and anxiety was also mediated by physical activity. We concluded that the fluctuation of screen time in a modest range does not affect the anxiety level substantially. The significantly increased screen time would contribute to poor sleep (including longer sleep latency and worse sleep quality) and lack of physical activity, which would lead to higher levels of anxiety.
在新冠疫情带来的负担以及生活方式迅速改变的情况下，许多人因心理需求和社会要求而增加了屏幕使用时间。本研究调查了新冠疫情期间屏幕使用时间变化与焦虑症状之间的关系。此外，我们还研究了睡眠和身体活动是否会介导屏幕使用时间变化与焦虑之间的关联。通过在线发放自行编制的问卷，收集人们在新冠疫情期间焦虑、睡眠模式和屏幕使用时间的变化情况。970名参与者（74.4%为女性）参与了本研究，平均年龄为23岁。在调整人口统计学变量后，有序逻辑回归分析显示，屏幕使用时间的显著增加与焦虑有关。屏幕使用时间略有增加、略有减少和显著减少在疫情期间均未预测到焦虑症状。报告睡眠质量下降的受访者焦虑水平显著更高。睡眠质量直接介导了屏幕使用时间变化与焦虑之间的关联，而睡眠潜伏期则没有。屏幕使用时间增加导致的更长睡眠潜伏期会通过影响睡眠质量加剧焦虑。此外，屏幕使用时间变化与焦虑之间的关系也由身体活动介导。我们得出结论，适度范围内的屏幕使用时间波动不会对焦虑水平产生实质性影响。屏幕使用时间的显著增加会导致睡眠不佳（包括更长的睡眠潜伏期和更差的睡眠质量）以及缺乏身体活动，进而导致更高水平的焦虑。
