"Out of sync and overlooked" - Relationship between social jetlag and anxiety in adolescents: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Hannah Ravenhall; Alessio Bellato; Sarah Laxhmi Chellappa; Matthew Garner

doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2026.102345

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"Out of sync and overlooked" - Relationship between social jetlag and anxiety in adolescents: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Hannah Ravenhall·Alessio Bellato·Sarah Laxhmi Chellappa·Matthew Garner

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Abstract

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health difficulty in adolescence, a period characterised by a shift towards an eveningness chronotype that is not aligned with societal demands (i.e., school start times). Experiencing "social jetlag" (SJL), a discrepancy in weekday-weekend sleep timing, is proposed to be associated with increased anxiety. A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between SJL and anxiety in adolescents (age range: 12-18 years). Systematic searches were conducted in PsycINFO, Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, MEDLINE, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global on 14th November 2024 to retrieve empirical studies analysing the relationship between SJL and anxiety in 12-18-year-olds. A multi-level random-effect meta-analysis was conducted in R to estimate the magnitude of the association between SJL and anxiety. After screening 2,138 records, 18 studies were included in the systematic review, with 12 included in the meta-analysis (235,526 participants in total) and six in a narrative review. A small association was found between increased SJL and more severe anxiety (Fisher's z = 0.0614, 95% CI [0.0268, 0.0961], p = 0.0011). These findings highlight the importance of addressing behavioural strategies targeting healthy regular sleep as a tool to improve mental health in adolescence.

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Adolescent Humans Anxiety Chronotype Circadian Rhythm Jet Lag Syndrome Sleep Eveningness Mental health Meta-analysis Social jetlag Journal Article Meta-Analysis Systematic Review

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Hannah Ravenhall, Alessio Bellato, Sarah Laxhmi Chellappa, Matthew Garner. 2026-07-16. "Out of sync and overlooked" - Relationship between social jetlag and anxiety in adolescents: Systematic review and meta-analysis.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2026.102345

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Journal Article; Meta-Analysis; Systematic Review resource Adolescent subject Anxiety subject Humans subject Journal Article subject Mental Health subject Meta-Analysis subject Systematic reviews study

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