Gender-specific within-person relations among sleep disturbance, self-control, and internet gaming disorder: A five-wave longitudinal study.

Although previous studies have examined pairwise associations among sleep disturbance, self-control, and IGD, the directionality, underlying dynamic processes, and potential mediating mechanisms linking these constructs have not been fully explored. In addition, most have predominantly focused on variations among different individuals instead of on changes within themselves. To address this gap, the present study employs the RI-CLPM to examine bidirectional longitudinal associations between sleep disturbance and IGD and to investigate the mediating role of self-control. A total of 5785 students (48.2% female, Mage = 18.63, SD = 0.88) participated in a large-scale health-related cohort study of college students. The random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were used to disentangle within-person effects from stable between-person differences. The results showed that, at the between-person level, individuals with higher average levels of sleep disturbance tended to report lower average levels of self-control and higher average levels of IGD across the study period. At the within-person level, sleep disturbance and self-control demonstrated bidirectional predictive relationships, and self-control significantly predicted subsequent IGD, whereas the reverse path from IGD to self-control was not significant. Critically, within-person increases in sleep disturbance predict later increases in IGD indirectly through reduced self-control. Furthermore, gender differences were identified in these within-person dynamics, with the mediating role of self-control observed only among males. These findings have implications for prevention and intervention research targeting college students, suggesting that sleep disturbance and self-control may represent potential targets for future efforts to prevent or reduce IGD risk.