The years in college is a crucial time for students to transfer physically and psychologically from teenager into early adulthood as well as a time window for high incidence of mental health problems and various mental illnesses. The incidence of anxiety and depression increases sharply during this stage, affecting the quality of life and subjective well-being. Sleep problems, as a hallmark diagnostic symptom of cross psychological disorders, often occur simultaneously with negative emotions. Therefore, the impact of sleep quality on emotional health has long been a concern. This study focuses on the relationship between sleep quality and emotional health among college students, with a focus on exploring the important protective effects of lifestyle and key psychological trait factors. The specific impacts of these key factors are analyzed, and a predictive model for the emotional health of college students is established to provide objective scientific suggestions for formulating corresponding intervention plans. This study is divided into three sub studies:
Study 1 investigated the impact of sleep quality on negative emotions and demographic differences among freshmen. This study collected behavioral data from 17796 freshmen and evaluated them using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and other questionnaire tools. The research results indicate that psychological resilience and physical activity play a chain mediating role in the relationship between sleep quality and depression and anxiety.
Study 2 aims to focus on the group of third year students and verify the significance of the chain mediated effect mentioned above. This study collected data from 2039 college students. The research results indicate that although the behavioral performance of third year students in sleep quality, psychological resilience, and negative emotions significantly decreases, the relationship model of sleep quality → light physical activity → psychological resilience → depression still holds; Psychological resilience and light physical activity can still significantly improve depression caused by sleep problems.
Study 3 aims to construct a predictive model for depression and anxiety among college students through tracking designs within the same sample. This study adopted a 2-year follow-up design and surveyed 108 identical subjects in Study 1 using the same tools. The research results indicate that light physical activity and sleep quality during freshman year jointly predict anxiety levels two years later. In addition, light physical activity, sleep quality, and psychological resilience during the freshman year can significantly predict the level of depression two years later.
This study, based on three sub studies, jointly revealed that physical activity and psychological resilience of college students play a significant chain mediating role in emotional health caused by sleep problems. It was found that increasing light physical activity level and enhancing psychological resilience can significantly protect college students from anxiety and depression caused by sleep problems. This research result helps to better clarify the risk and protective factors that affect the mental health of college students, understand the occurrence of mental health problems among college students, provide scientific basis for formulating corresponding emotional health intervention measures, and also provide valuable scientific insights for providing targeted emotional health management and psychological support services.
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