Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part C (2025)

Background: Adolescents undergo critical developmental changes that affect their sleep health, influenced by environmental, behavioral, and socio-demographic factors. Disparities in sleep duration and quality between urban and rural adolescents remain underexplored in the Indian context.

Objectives: To assess and compare the sleep duration and sleep quality of urban and rural school-going adolescents, and to identify behavioral and contextual factors influencing sleep patterns.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 adolescents from grades 5 to 10, equally divided between urban (n = 230) and rural (n = 230) schools in a southern Indian district. Data were collected over a three-month period (August-November 2023) using a structured questionnaire incorporating elements from the Adolescent Sleep Questionnaire. Information on sleep duration, sleep quality indicators (restlessness, snoring, night awakenings), and behavioral factors (caffeine use, screen time) was collected. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square tests and descriptive statistics.

Results: The mean age of participants was 13.2±1.4 years, with nearly equal gender distribution. A significantly higher proportion of rural adolescents (58.5%) reported sleeping ≥9 hours per night compared to urban adolescents (16.7%). More than half of the urban group (55.3%) slept less than 8 hours. Indicators of poor sleep quality—such as frequent awakenings (51.3% vs. 12.1%) and restlessness (47.8% vs. 24.0%)—were more common among urban adolescents. Urban participants also reported higher caffeine use (69.5% vs. 30.4%) and greater engagement in screen-based activities before sleep. No significant differences were observed in sleep patterns based on age or gender.

Conclusion: Urban adolescents demonstrated significantly shorter and more fragmented sleep compared to rural counterparts, driven largely by behavioral and contextual factors such as screen exposure and caffeine use. These findings underscore the need for targeted sleep health interventions, particularly in urban school populations.