Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Sleep. 2023 Jun 13;46(6). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsad038.
Digital technology use is associated with poor sleep quality in adolescence and young adulthood although research findings have been mixed. No studies have addressed the association between the two using a genetically informative twin design which could extend our understanding of the etiology of this relationship. This study aimed to test: (1) the association between adolescents' perceived problematic use of digital technology and poor sleep quality, (2) whether the association between problematic use of technology and poor sleep quality remains after controlling for familial factors, and (3) genetic and environmental influences on the association between problematic use of technology and poor sleep quality.
Participants were 2232 study members (18-year-old twins) of the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. The sample was 48.9% male, 90% white, and 55.6% monozygotic. We conducted regression and twin difference analyses and fitted twin models.
Twin differences for problematic use of technology were associated with differences for poor sleep quality in the whole sample (p < 0.001; B = 0.15) and also when we limited the analyses to identical twins only (p < 0.001; B = 0.21). We observed a substantial genetic correlation between problematic use of technology and sleep quality (rA = 0.31), whereas the environmental correlation was lower (rE = 0.16).
Adolescent reported problematic use of digital technology is associated with poor sleep quality-even after controlling for familial factors including genetic confounds. Our results suggest that the association between adolescents' sleep and problematic digital technology use is not accounted for by shared genetic liability or familial factors but could reflect a causal association. This robust association needs to be examined in future research designed to test causal associations.
尽管已有研究结果不一，但数字技术的使用与青少年和年轻成年人的睡眠质量差有关。没有研究使用具有遗传信息的双胞胎设计来解决这两者之间的关系，而这种设计可以扩展我们对这种关系病因的理解。本研究旨在检验：（1）青少年感知的数字技术使用问题与睡眠质量差之间的关系，（2）在控制家庭因素后，技术使用问题与睡眠质量差之间的关系是否仍然存在，以及（3）技术使用问题与睡眠质量差之间的关系的遗传和环境影响。
参与者是环境风险（E-Risk）纵向双胞胎研究的 2232 名研究成员（18 岁的双胞胎）。该样本中男性占 48.9%，白人占 90%，同卵双胞胎占 55.6%。我们进行了回归和双胞胎差异分析，并拟合了双胞胎模型。
整个样本中，技术使用问题的双胞胎差异与睡眠质量差的差异相关（p < 0.001；B = 0.15），当我们仅对同卵双胞胎进行分析时，这种相关性也存在（p < 0.001；B = 0.21）。我们观察到技术使用问题与睡眠质量之间存在显著的遗传相关性（rA = 0.31），而环境相关性较低（rE = 0.16）。
青少年报告的数字技术使用问题与睡眠质量差有关——即使在控制了包括遗传混淆在内的家庭因素后也是如此。我们的研究结果表明，青少年睡眠与数字技术使用问题之间的关联不是由共同的遗传易感性或家庭因素解释的，而是可能反映了一种因果关系。这种强有力的关联需要在旨在检验因果关系的未来研究中进行检验。
