What is the Role of Computer Game Addiction in the Sleep Disturbance Risk Among Children of COVID Lock Down? A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Objective:In this study, it was aimed to examine the risk of sleep disturbance in children and its relationship with computer game addiction during the Coronavirus disease-2019 lock down.Materials and Methods:In our cross-sectional observational study, 343 children and their mothers who applied family medicine clinics of a tertiary hospital between 1 October 2020 and 1 January 2021 were included. A structured questionnaire including the socio-demographic data of the mother and the child, and the Children’s Sleep Disturbance Scale and the Children’s Computer Game Addiction Scale were applied.Results:One-hundred sixty-five (48.1%) girls and 178 (51.9%) boys aged 8-12 years and their mothers participated in the study. The risk of sleep disturbance was observed at a rate of 74.1% (n=254) and it was strongly correlated with computer game addiction (p<0.001, r=0.787). Game addiction scores of boys (58.66±16.68) and primary school children (60.37±16.41) were higher than game addiction of girls (52.91±17.57), and of secondary school children (55.06±17.39) (p=0.023, p=0.040, respectively). Computer game addiction score (61.89±14.77) of children with sleep disturbance risk was significantly higher (p<0.001) than children without sleep disturbance risk (38.79±11.84). Among the children with a risk of sleep disturbance, the proportion of time spent on the computer compared to the pre-pandemic period (70.1%), the proportion of going late to bed-time (70.0%), and the proportion of being own computer or tablet (71.7%) were found to be higher than the proportions in children (48.3%, 58.4%, 37.1%, respectively) without sleep disturbance (p<0.001, p=0.004, p<0.001, respectively). The level of computer game addiction was significantly increased in children who spent less time with their mothers (58.68±16.97) and less time for games (58.05±18.11) compared to other children (p=0.002). In the logistic regression analysis, it was shown that the game addiction score was 1.128 times higher in children with sleep disturbance risk [Odds ratio=1.128 (1.094-1.162; p<0.001)].Conclusion:Our study showed that three of four children had a risk of sleep disorders during the pandemic period and were associated with an increased level of computer game addiction and drew attention to the importance of the time spent with the mother.

Keywords

• child
• computer game addiction
• sleep
• sleep-wake disorders