Association of weekend catch-up sleep ratio and subjective sleep quality with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among Korean adolescents

Circadian misalignment caused by differences in sleep duration between weekends and weekdays may be associated with adolescent mental health and sleep quality may be able to compensate for this problem. This study aimed to investigate the association between weekend catch-up sleep (CUS) ratio and sleep quality with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among South Korean adolescents. We used data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey 2015–2019 involving 270,619 adolescents. The weekend CUS ratio was calculated by dividing the average weekend sleep duration by the average weekday sleep duration (< 1.00, 1.00 ≤ CUS < 1.50, or ≥ 1.50). Subjective sleep quality was categorized as poor, moderate, or good. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. A weekend CUS ratio of < 1.00 and poor sleep quality was significantly associated with mental health. Absolutely short sleep duration (CUS < 1.00 and weekday sleep duration < 5 h) was most associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, adolescents with a CUS ratio of ≥ 1.50 showed increased odds of depressive symptoms despite having good sleep quality. Appropriate weekend CUS may benefit adolescents’ mental health. When investigating the relationship between adolescents’ sleep and mental health, a weekend CUS ratio should be considered in addition to sleep quality and duration.