Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and Sleep Quality: Rumination as a Mediator and Resilience as a Moderator.

Zhutao Wang,Hongfan Li,Yukun Li,Guangkui Feng,Xianjun Ma,Shiji Deng,Jason H. Huang,Huan Zhu,Xiayue Xu,Simeng Gu,Fushun Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00348

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between stressful life events and sleep quality and to probe the role of rumination and resilience in the relationship. Method: The Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist, Ruminative Responses Scale, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were used among 1,065 college students. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) 20.0 and the SPSS macro Process, which were specifically developed for assessing complex models including both mediators and moderators, were used to analyze the data. Results: High scores of stressful life events predicted worse sleep quality. Rumination partially mediated the relations between stressful life events and sleep quality. Resilience moderated the direct and indirect paths leading from stressful life events to sleep quality. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that stressful life events can directly affect the sleep quality of college students and indirectly through rumination. Additionally, increasing psychological resilience could decrease both the direct effect and the indirect effect of stressful life events affecting sleep quality. The results of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the effects, as well as the paths and conditions, of stressful life events on sleep quality in college students. Moreover, these findings can provide constructive suggestions for improving college students’ sleep quality.

Highlights

There is little doubt that sufficient, restorative sleep plays a critical role in maintaining one’s physical and mental health
Stressful Life Events The intensity and frequency of participants’ stressful life events were evaluated with the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC) [39], which includes 27 items grouped under six factors: interpersonal, learning stress, punishment, loss, health adaptation, and “other.” Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale
We examined the indirect effects of rumination on the associations between stressful life events and sleep quality using the PROCESS procedure in SPSS 20.0 [46]

Summary

Introduction

There is little doubt that sufficient, restorative sleep plays a critical role in maintaining one’s physical and mental health. Poor sleep is considered as a predictive sign and symptom for many diseases and is associated with substantial decrements in life quality [1,2,3,4]. College students are in a special period of life development, and good sleep is significantly important for them. It is reported that 12.9% to 52.8% of college students in China have sleep problems [5, 6]. Troubled sleep has caused decrements in academic performance and increased risk-taking behaviors, and it has increased. Stress Induces Sleep Problems the risk for subsequent declines in social, psychological, physical, and mental health. It is important to identify and characterize the factors that modulate sleep quality and quantity

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Discussion

Conclusion