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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Media Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1529137
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its OutcomesView all 85 articles
Bedtime media use, psychological distress, and fatigue: A study of college students in Shaanxi Province, China
Provisionally accepted- 1School of Science, Xi'an Technological University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
- 2Institute for Population and Management of Health Studies, Xi'an Technological University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
- 3School of Health Management, Shangluo University, Shangluo, Shanxi Province, China
- 4Social and Public Administration School, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
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Background: Numerous studies have linked psychological distress to fatigue, yet few have explored how bedtime media use mediates this relationship. This study examines whether using visual or auditory stimuli at bedtime mediates the relationship between psychological distress and fatigue among college students.Methods: A total of 1,831 Chinese college students (927 males and 904 females; mean age = 20.36 years, SD 1.26) from universities in Shaanxi Province, China, participated in the study. Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire that assessed psychological distress, bedtime media use, and fatigue. The bootstrap method was employed to test the mediating effects, with 5,000 random samples and a 95% confidence interval.Results: Psychological distress (r = 0.256, p < 0.001), visual stimuli of bedtime media use (r = 0.114, p < 0.001), and auditory stimuli of bedtime media use (r = 0.109, p < 0.005) were all positively related to fatigue. Among students with normal levels of psychological distress, the relationship between psychological distress and fatigue was partially mediated by the visual stimuli of bedtime media use. In contrast, for students with severe psychological distress, the auditory stimuli of bedtime media use mediated the relationship between psychological distress and fatigue.Conclusions: Based on the findings, psychological distress is indirectly associated with fatigue through the visual or auditory stimuli of bedtime media use. The visual and auditory stimuli exhibit different mediating effects among students with normal versus severe psychological distress. Interventions should focus on limiting bedtime media use to enhance health and reduce fatigue among college students experiencing psychological distress. Future studies may use longitudinal designs to establish causality or explore the reverse relationship between psychological distress and fatigue for a more robust finding.
Keywords: psychological distress, Fatigue, Mental Health, bedtime media use, Visual stimulus, Auditory stimulus
Received: 16 Nov 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Cheng, Ariyo and Duan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tolulope Ariyo, School of Health Management, Shangluo University, Shangluo, 726000, Shanxi Province, China
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