#Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem

•Studied social media use, sleep quality and wellbeing in 467 adolescents.•Examined emotional investment in social media and overall vs. nighttime-specific use.•Social media use associated with poor sleep, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.•Poor sleep most strongly associated with nighttime-specific social media use.•Anxiety and depression most strongly associated with emotional investment in sites.

This study examined how social media use related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 Scottish adolescents. We measured overall social media use, nighttime-specific social media use, emotional investment in social media, sleep quality, self-esteem and levels of anxiety and depression. Adolescents who used social media more – both overall and at night – and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Nighttime-specific social media use predicted poorer sleep quality after controlling for anxiety, depression and self-esteem. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that social media use is related to various aspects of wellbeing in adolescents. In addition, our results indicate that nighttime-specific social media use and emotional investment in social media are two important factors that merit further investigation in relation to adolescent sleep and wellbeing.