Relationship stress and sleep: examining the mediation of social media use for objective and subjective sleep quality

Romantic relationship stress is associated with poor sleep quality, theoretically by threatening belongingness needs. However, it is unclear how relationship stress directly and indirectly impacts sleep quality. This study aims to determine to what extent social media use mediates the relationship between romantic relationship stress and objective and subjective sleep quality. Longitudinal data comes from 35 emerging adults in romantic relationships who completed online surveys twice daily for 14 consecutive days while wearing Oura rings. The Oura rings captured objective sleep quality, and the surveys captured subjective sleep quality and the presence of romantic stress. Results revealed that social media use did not mediate the relationship between romantic relationship stress and sleep quality; however, social media use was predictive of poorer sleep quality, and relationship stress was predictive of increased objective time spent sleeping. These results prove that social media use is a stronger independent predictor of decrements in sleep quality compared to relationship stress.