The Mediator Role of Positive and Negative Affect in the Relationship Between Sleep Quality, Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety in Young Adults

Objective: It is known that individuals with poor sleep quality show significantly more depression and anxiety symptoms. It is important to investigate possible factors that may make individuals more vulnerable to develop depression and anxiety. For this purpose, the possible mediator roles of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in the relationship between sleep quality and depression- anxiety symptoms in young adults were tested by using multiple mediation analysis. Materials and Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 387 volunteer participants aged between 18 and 35 years (mean=22.83, standard deviation=3.20). Data consisting of Pittsburgh sleep quality index, positive and negative emotion scale, and brief symptom inventory were collected through an online computer-assisted protocol. Results: Significant positive correlations were found between low sleep quality scores and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. According to the two mediator variable models, low sleep quality influenced depressive symptoms indirectly through PA and NA, and anxiety through only NA. Alternative models of the results showed that depressive symptoms influenced sleep quality partially through PA and NA, while anxiety mediated this relationship only through PA. Conclusion: Alternative models tested to understand the direction of the relationship between depressive-anxiety symptoms and sleep quality. Although the results were significant, the explained variance was found to be less explanatory than the first and second models. The results of the study supported the idea that sleep quality, PA and NA should be targeted while developing prevention and intervention programs for depression and anxiety.