The Association between Executive Function, Physical Activity, Sleep Profile, and The Daily Duration of Mobile Device Use in Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aims:

To investigate the association between executive function, physical activity (PA) level, sleep profile, and daily duration of mobile device (DDMD) use among adolescents.

Methods:

Healthy adolescents aged 13-16 completed a Stroop test (randomized blocks of Congruent, Incongruent, and Mixed trials). Accuracy of respective trial blocks and their reaction times (RT) of correct responses, Stroop interference (RT Incongruent – RT Congruent), and 7-day PA (time on sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous), sleep profile (duration and efficiency) captured by a wearable accelerometer-based device, were analyzed using the Pearson’s Correlation for their associations with their DDMD use (the screen-time function).

Results:

All 37 adolescents (14 males and 23 females, aged 14.92 (SD 1.16)) completed the study. The DDMD use is significantly associated with faster RT of Incongruent trials (r= -0.36; p=0.034) and RT of the Stroop interference (r= -0.42; p=0.013). The time spent in sedentary level is significantly associated with DDMD use (r=0.37; p=0.023), while insignificant associations were found between the DDMD use and sleep profile.

Conclusions:

These preliminary findings suggested that DDMD use was positively associated with sedentary time engagement. The longer daily mobile duration was associated with a more efficient inhibitory control mechanism. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to understand the actual effect of DDMD on all these variables.