Screen exposure played a mediating role in the relationship between sleep quality and healthy lifestyle beliefs in adolescents, with increased screen exposure leading to decreases in both sleep quality and healthy lifestyle beliefs.
Screen exposure negatively predicted sleep quality in adolescents.
Increased screen exposure was associated with worse healthy lifestyle beliefs among adolescents.
Sleep quality did not significantly directly affect healthy lifestyle beliefs.
Screen exposure played a statistically significant mediating role in the relationship between sleep quality and healthy lifestyle beliefs.
The study sample consisted of 700 adolescents from two high schools in a province in Turkey's Black Sea region, with a cross-sectional and correlational design.
This research suggests that how much time teenagers spend in front of screens—such as phones, tablets, and computers—plays an important connecting role between their sleep quality and how strongly they believe in living a healthy lifestyle. The study surveyed 700 high school students in Turkey and found that more screen time was linked to poorer sleep and weaker beliefs about the importance of healthy behaviors. Interestingly, sleep quality on its own did not directly affect healthy lifestyle beliefs in a statistically meaningful way; instead, screen exposure acted as a bridge between the two. The findings indicate that screen exposure is not just associated with one health-related outcome in isolation, but rather serves as a pathway through which sleep problems may translate into broader unhealthy attitudes and beliefs among teens. The moderate levels of screen exposure and healthy lifestyle beliefs, combined with generally good sleep quality reported in the sample, suggest there may be room for meaningful improvement through targeted interventions before problems become more severe. This research suggests that efforts to improve adolescent health—particularly by nurses, schools, and public health practitioners—should focus on reducing screen time as a practical strategy for simultaneously protecting sleep and fostering healthier lifestyle attitudes in teenagers. The authors emphasize that planning and implementing nursing interventions targeting screen exposure could be important for protecting and improving adolescent health overall.
Solmaz T, Acar M, Demir O. (2026). Sleep Quality and Healthy Lifestyle Beliefs in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Screen Exposure.. Brain and behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.71212