The Social Side of Sleep: A Systematic Review of the Longitudinal Associations between Peer Relationships and Sleep Quality

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 21;20(3):2017. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032017.

Abstract

In adolescence, peer relationships become crucial since youths start to rely on their peers for support. Thus, multiple facets of adolescents' well-being are affected by their peer relationships. In this vein, one of the central well-being aspects that could be affected by the peer relationships of adolescents is sleep quality. Nevertheless, it is still unclear how multiple peer relationship factors (i.e., positive, negative, emotional, and behavioral issues related to peer relationships) are intertwined with adolescents' sleep quality. For this reason, this systematic review with meta-analysis aims to summarize longitudinal studies to uncover how the interplay between peer relationship factors and adolescents' sleep quality unfolds over time. Nineteen longitudinal studies involving a total of 21,232 adolescents were included. Overall, findings from this review showed that (a) positive peer relationships and sleep quality were not associated over time; (b) negative peer relationships and sleep quality were bidirectionally associated over time; (c) few studies evaluated the bidirectional relations between emotional and behavioral issues and sleep quality, showing links with sleep schedule and duration, but not with sleep quality. Meta-analytic results were discussed, considering their implications.

Keywords: adolescents; longitudinal; peer relationships; sleep quality; systematic review.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Systematic Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior* / psychology
  • Emotions
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Peer Group
  • Sleep
  • Sleep Quality

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC-CoG IDENTITIES Grant agreement N. [101002163]; Principal investigator: Elisabetta Crocetti).