School burnout and disturbed sleep due to social media are among the various challenges adolescents grapple with. Disturbed sleep due to social media (DSSM) is an emerging issue, whereas school burnout is a longstanding problem. The challenge of DSSM is aggravated by the eager embrace of smartphones and the Internet. School burnout exists among high school students because of increased academic workload as compared with elementary schools. The prevalence of school burnout may be more common in cultures where academic performance is highly regarded.
This study examined the gender differences in DSSM, interest in physical education (IPE), and school burnout as well as the relationship of these variables. Particular attention was paid to investigate the role of IPE in adolescents’ well-being when facing heavy schoolwork and social media use. The two-wave longitudinal study was conducted among 2,152 eighth- and ninth-grade Taiwanese adolescents of an average age of 13.88 years (SD = 0.71). Independent sample t-tests compared the means of the variables to explore gender differences. Three analyses using autoregressive cross-lag analyses were conducted for the overall sample, then for females and males separately to investigate the relations among DSSM, IPE, and school burnout.
Results of t-tests showed higher scores in IPE and DSSM for boys and burnout for girls. Overall, there was a reciprocal relationship between school burnout and DSSM, that is, high school burnout led to higher later DSSM, and high DSSM increased later burnout. IPE played different roles for girls and boys. For boys, burnout at Time 1 negatively predicted IPE at T2, and IPE at T1 had no significant effect on either school burnout or DSSM at Time 2, However, girls’ IPE at T1 reduced burnout at T2. IPE may lessen burnout in girls but not in boys. IPE may not easily attenuate disturbed sleep in both boys and girls unless special programs are designed.

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