Prevalence, Correlates, and Mental Health Outcomes of Social Jetlag in Chinese School-Age Adolescents: A Large-Scale Population-Based Study

Background: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the prevalence and correlates of social jetlag (SJL) in Chinese adolescents, as well as to test the relationships between SJL and mental health problems. Methods: A total of 106979 students (M-age = 13.0 +/- 1.8 years; N-male = 58296 [54.5 %]) from Shenzhen, China completed an online survey from May 24th to June 5th, 2022. Information on sociodemographics, lifestyles, sleep characteristics, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms was collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Multivariate and binary logistic regression were adopted for data analysis. Results: 17.8 % of participants experienced SJL >= 2 h. To adjust the accumulated sleep debt, sleep-corrected SJL (SJLsc) was calculated and 8.3 % of individuals self-reported SJLsc >= 2 h. Both SJL and SJLsc show an increasing trend with age. Risk factors of SJL included females, poor parental marital status, being overweight, physically inactive, smoking, drinking, and having a late chronotype. Moreover, males, having siblings, boarding at school, short sleep duration, experiencing insomnia, and frequent nightmares were significantly associated with an increased risk of SJLsc. After adjusting for all covariates, adolescents with SJLsc >= 2 h were more likely to have anxiety symptoms (OR: 1.35, 95 % CI: 1.24-1.48) and depressive symptoms (OR: 1.35, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.46) than those with SJLsc < 1 h. Conclusions: SJL is common among Chinese school-age adolescents. This study is valuable for the development of prevention and intervention strategies for SJL in adolescents at the population level. Additionally, the strong links between SJLsc and emotional problems underscore the critical significance of addressing SJL as a key aspect of adolescent well-being.