Jackowska Marta, Krzyżanowski Robert, Kadzikowska-Wrzosek Romana
Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University, Sopot, Poland.
Curr Issues Personal Psychol. 2024 Nov 14;13(3):167-175. doi: 10.5114/cipp/193607. eCollection 2025.
Playing video games is a popular leisure activity, but if prolonged it can increase the risk of sleep and mood disturbances. Individuals with an evening chronotype show a greater tendency to be engrossed in video games.
This study tested whether sleep disturbances would mediate the association between chronotype and depressive symptoms in adult video game players. Participants were 1208 adults (86.7% men, mean age 27.4 ± 8.07 years) who regularly play video games. Chronotype was assessed with the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms, and sleep disturbance was evaluated with the Athens Insomnia Scale.
We found that adults who play video games and show an evening chronotype preference spent more time playing than those with a more intermediate or morning preference. An evening chronotype was linked to a higher level of depressive symptoms, and our bootstrap mediation analysis revealed that sleep disturbances partly mediated this association (β = -.15, = .02, 95% CI [-.19; -.11]).
Our study suggests that an evening chronotype should be considered when exploring psychological risk factors contributing to the development of problematic gaming. In adults who play video games and display a tendency towards eveningness, higher rates of depressive symptoms may be partly explained by inadequate sleep.
玩电子游戏是一项受欢迎的休闲活动，但如果持续时间过长，会增加睡眠和情绪紊乱的风险。具有晚型生物钟的个体更容易沉迷于电子游戏。
本研究测试了睡眠障碍是否会介导成年电子游戏玩家生物钟类型与抑郁症状之间的关联。参与者为1208名经常玩电子游戏的成年人（男性占86.7%，平均年龄27.4±8.07岁）。使用晨型-夜型问卷评估生物钟类型，采用流行病学研究中心抑郁量表测量抑郁症状，并用雅典失眠量表评估睡眠障碍。
我们发现，玩电子游戏且表现出晚型生物钟偏好的成年人比那些具有更中间型或晨型偏好的人玩游戏的时间更长。晚型生物钟与更高水平的抑郁症状相关，我们的自助法中介分析表明，睡眠障碍部分介导了这种关联（β = -0.15，p = 0.02，95%CI [-0.19；-0.11]）。
我们的研究表明，在探索导致问题游戏发展的心理风险因素时，应考虑晚型生物钟。在玩电子游戏且表现出晚型倾向的成年人中，较高的抑郁症状发生率可能部分归因于睡眠不足。
