The role of sleep in prospective associations between parent reported youth screen media activity and behavioral health

Background: Screen media activity (SMA) can negatively affect youth behavioral health. Sleep may mediate this association but has not been previously explored. We examined whether sleep mediated the association between SMA and youth behavioral health among a community sample. Method: Parents completed questions about their child (N = 564) ages 3–17 at Wave 1, Wave 2 (4–8 months later), and Wave 3 (12 months later). Path analyses were conducted to examine links between Wave 1 SMA and Wave 3 behavioral health problems (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, attention, peer problems) through Wave 2 sleep disturbance and duration. Results: SMA was significantly associated with greater sleep disturbance, β =.11, 95% CI [.01,.21] and shorter sleep duration, β = −.16 [−.25, −.06], and greater sleep disturbance was associated with worse youth behavioral health across internalizing, β =.14 [.04,.24], externalizing, B =.23 [.12,.33], attention, β =.24 [.15,.34], and peer problems, β =.25 [.15,.35]. Longer sleep duration was associated with more externalizing, β =.13 [.04,.21], and attention problems, β =.12 [.02,.22], and fewer peer problems, β = −.09 [−.17, −.01], but not with internalizing problems. Lastly, there was a direct effect of SMA on peer problems, β = −.15 [−.23, −.06] such that higher SMA that does not impact sleep may have a positive impact on reducing peer problems. Conclusions: Sleep (i.e., disturbances and shorter duration) may partially account for the small associations observed between SMA and worse behavioral health in youth. To continue expanding our understanding, future research should utilize more diverse representative samples, use objective measures of SMA and sleep, and examine other relevant aspects of SMA, including content, device type, and timing of use.