BACKGROUND
About four in ten people globally exhibit symptoms of insomnia. With the proliferation of short video apps in life, their impact on adult insomnia remains under explored.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between short video use, insomnia symptoms, and the mediating role of depression among rural adults in China.
METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July to August 2023 in rural Shandong, China. A total of 2931 individuals were included in the analysis. Depression and insomnia symptoms were measured using the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) and the 8-item Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS-8), respectively. After match the short video users with the non-short video users by Propensity Score Matching method (PSM), the chi-square test and rank sum test were used to explore whether short video use was associated with depression and insomnia symptoms. The Ordinary Least Square method (OLS) was employed to determine this association further after controlling for the confounding factors. The significance of the mediation effect was obtained using a bootstrap approach with SPSS PROCESS macro.
RESULTS
42.17% (1236/2931) of the participants used the short video. A significant negative correlation was found between short video use and insomnia symptoms (β=-.590, P<.05). Depression fully mediated the association between short video use and insomnia symptoms (β=-.120, P>.1). The significance of the indirect accounted for 79.66% of the total variance in insomnia symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS
The present findings reveal that short videos use among adults can alleviate insomnia symptoms through its mediating effect on reducing depression. Thus, the potential benefits of short videos warrant further exploration and amplification, provided that addictive behaviors are avoided.