Prevalence and correlates of sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents: a cross-sectional survey study

Study objective: To investigate the prevalence and the correlates of sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents and to examine the association between the two problems. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Participants: A total of 3186 school students in grades 7-12 were sampled from the schools in Guangdong. A stratified-cluster random-sampling strategy was used to select the schools. Main outcome measures: A self-administered questionnaire was used. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index (PSQI) was used to assess the occurrence of sleep disturbance, and the Center for Epidemiology Scale for Depression (CES-D) was used to identify whether individuals had depressive symptoms. Results: The mean PSQI global score was 8.7 (+/-2.4) points, and 39.6% of the total sample had sleep disturbance. The mean CES-D score of students was 15.2 (+/-9.4) points, and 6.4% of the students had depressive symptoms. Additionally, girls and older adolescents were more likely to suffer from sleep disturbance, and the students who had depressive symptoms were 2.47 (95% CI 1.61 to 3.79) times more likely to suffer from sleep disturbance. Factors that were correlated with sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms were having a poor relationship with teachers, feeling lonely, suicide ideation and having run away from home. Conclusions: Sleep disturbance was determined to be more prevalent among Chinese adolescents with depressive symptoms. Sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms were associated with each other, while school factors, family factors and psychosocial adjustment were comprehensively correlated with both.