Correlation of life style and socio-demographic characteristics with insomnia of Greek adolescents students

Background

The aim of this study is to detect the factors related to the insomnia in a sample of Greek adolescents.

Materials and methods

The sample consists of 339 adolescents (mean age: 15,41, SD:1,59, min/max:13/18), habitants of the city of Karditsa, a town sited in the central Greece. The sample was selected using the method of randomized stratified selection by schools. The students completed the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) and a questionnaire of demographic characteristics and questions relative with their social life, as well.

Results

To control the correlation, there was used the one-way ANOVA. The reports of students about their sleep problems are increased with the age (p<0.001) and therefore the students of senior high school present higher scores in the scale of insomnia in comparison to the students of High School (F=12.56, p<0.001). Father's lower educative level (p<0.01) and mother's (p<0.001) as well, is related with increased complaints for disturbed sleep of students. The low level of communication between students and their parents (F=12.83, p<0.001) but also the low level of communication between parents (F=8.76, p<0.001), the bad financial situation of the family (F=6.87, p<0.001) are related positively to insomnia. Substance use behaviours of students (smoking, alcohol) are related positively to the disturbances in sleep (F=21.52, p<0.001 and F=23.60, p<0.001 respectively). The particular group of students with lower school performance is more likely to report symptoms of insomnia (F=16.12, p<0.001) than those with a high school performance.

Conclusions

Sleep problems of Greek adolescent students are related to older age, to low educative level of parents, to bad communication with their parents but also between parents, to smoking, alcohol and low school performance.