The Direct and Indirect Effect of Computer Use on Psychological and Somatic Symptoms Among Boys and Girls in Three Different Age Cohorts

This study focused on the direct and indirect effect (via sleep duration) of computer use on psychological and somatic symptoms among boys and girls (N = 6112) in 3 different age cohorts (11, 13, and 15-years old) from the 2013/2014 health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) study done in Sweden. Structural equation modeling (with SPSS AMOS 22) was used (specifying separate multigroup models for each age group). The mediating effect of sleep duration was tested for significance using a Bootstrap estimation. Across the age groups, the direct effect of computer use was found to be a significant risk factor for psychological and somatic symptoms among both girls and boys (all the P values