The Association Between Sleep Circadian Rhythm and Adolescent Depression

Abstract

Adolescent depression is a major global public health concern, and circadian rhythm research provides a new perspective for understanding adolescent depression vulnerability. The adolescent circadian system undergoes natural developmental remodeling characterized by physiological phase delay, which conflicts with rigid social temporal constraints, leading to widespread social jet lag among adolescents. This paper systematically elucidates the bidirectional coupling mechanism between circadian disruption and adolescent depression, summarizes the applicability of chronotherapeutic interventions, and explores the structural social drivers of rhythm misalignment, and finds that longitudinal studies confirm the bidirectional coupling between circadian disruption and adolescent depression, validated through long-term dynamic observations, and the degree of circadian disruption progressively increases with the recurrence of depressive episodes. Neuroimaging evidence further reveals the neural basis of this interaction. Integrated chronotherapy with cognitive behavioral therapy can effectively restore circadian homeostasis and alleviate depressive symptoms. This paper systematically examines the interaction between adolescent circadian development and social structural constraints, providing new theoretical perspectives and practical pathways for constructing adolescent mental health promotion systems.