ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Human Developmental Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicChildren's Health and Screen TimeView all 25 articles
The impact of entertainment screen time on sleep quality in Chinese and British adolescents: a moderated mediation model
Provisionally accepted
- Tianjin University of Technology and Education, Tianjin, China
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Adolescents spend substantial time on media devices for entertainment. Sleep—a critical factor for physical and mental development—is increasingly insufficient among them. One of the contributing factors is the increased availability of technology. Despite previous studies indicating a link between screen time and sleep impairment, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. Additionally, the role of culture in this context is still ambiguous. This study aimed to investigate a conceptual framework elucidating how screen time influences sleep quality in adolescents through the mediation role of self-control, with country culture as a moderator. A total of 731 Chinese and British adolescents (mean age = 13.01 years, SD = 0.98) completed screen time scale, Children's Perceived Self-control Scale, and part of Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale (YSIS) at first. After the removal of values didn't meet criteria, 640 students (mean age = 12.93 years, SD = 0.96) were retained for data analysis. The results showed that (a) screen time was negatively associated with sleep quality (b = -0.22, p < 0.001); (b) self-control mediated the relationship between screen time and sleep quality; (c) country culture moderated the pathway from screen time to self-control (b = 0.50, p = 0.007), with the negative impact of screen time on self-control being stronger among British adolescents. Collectively, these results suggest a potential mechanism through which entertainment screen time influences sleep quality and highlight the role of culture in this process. They underscore the importance of reducing entertainment screen time and enhancing parental control over screen time to address self-control deficits and, consequently, reduce sleep problems among adolescents.
Keywords: screen time, Self-Control, sleep quality, adolescents, culture
Received: 17 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 YANG and Shanshan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: JINGJING YANG
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