A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies on the interplay between sleep, mental health, and positive well-being in adolescents

Objective: This review aimed to summarize longitudinal research about the interplay between sleep, mental health, and positive well-being in adolescents.Method: Multiple search strategies were applied until 28(th) January 2023 to identify relevant research published in peer-reviewed journal articles or available grey literature. A final set of 63 studies were included in the systematic review and 42 in the meta-analysis.Results: Results highlighted that long sleep duration, good sleep quality, and low insomnia symptoms were bidirectionally related to lower internalizing (Sleep T1 -> Internalizing symptoms T2: r = -.20, p < .001; Internalizing symptoms T1 -> Sleep T2: r = -.21, p < .001) and externalizing (Sleep T1 -> Externalizing symptoms T2: r = -.15, p < .001; Externalizing symptoms T1 -> Sleep T2: r = -.17, p < .001) symptoms, and to higher levels of psychological well-being (Sleep T1 -> Psychological well-being T2: r = .15, p < .001; Psychological well-being T1 -> Sleep T2: r = .15, p < .05). Moreover, good sleep was positively related to higher subjective well-being at a later time point (r = .18, p < .001).Conclusions: Overall, these findings suggest a bidirectional relation between different aspects of sleep, mental health, and positive well-being.