Stuck in companionless days, end up in sleepless nights: relationships between ostracism, rumination, insomnia, and subjective well-being

Abstract

The current research aimed to investigate the relationship between ostracism and insomnia and whether the relationship is mediated by rumination and has implications on subjective well-being. A cross-sectional design was adopted. A sample of 219 undergraduate students from a public university in Hong Kong participated in this study. Participants completed a series of well-validated measures to assess their dispositional ostracism, rumination, insomnia, and subjective well-being. As predicted, the results revealed that ostracism was positively associated with rumination and insomnia and negatively associated with subjective well-being. Moreover, the relationship between ostracism and insomnia was mediated by increased rumination, and such an ostracism–rumination–insomnia link was associated with reduced subjective well-being. These findings have implications for advancing current theories about negative outcomes of ostracism and the underlying psychological mechanisms. They also emphasize the significant role that interpersonal relationships play in easing insomnia and enhancing subjective well-being.