Adverse childhood experiences and depressive symptoms among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: mediating roles of poor sleep quality and psychological inflexibility

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have found that adverse childhood experiences can lead to depressive symptoms. But the underlying mechanisms have not been determined. Guided by the 3-P model of insomnia and acceptance and commitment therapy, this study examined the mediating role of poor sleep quality and psychological inflexibility in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 996 senior high school students in China (Mage = 16.57 years; SD = 1.03) completed the self-report measures of adverse childhood experiences, depressive symptoms, poor sleep quality, and psychological inflexibility. Multiple mediation analysis revealed that adverse childhood experiences were related to depressive symptoms through poor sleep quality and psychological inflexibility, serially. These findings point to potential targets in the prevention of and intervention in adolescent depressive symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• depressive symptoms
• poor sleep quality
• psychological inflexibility
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the participants and volunteers who provided support for this study.

Data availability statement

The datasets used in this study are available upon request to the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Institutional review board statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Jiangxi Normal University of China.

Author contributions

B.Y, Q.W. and Y.Z. developed the questionnaires and conceptualized the models. Q. W. collected and analyzed the data, validated the model, and drafted the paper. Y.Z., B.Y., and Q.Y. reviewed the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional review board statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the first institution.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation (72164018), The Humanities and Social Sciences Program of the Ministry of Education（22YJA190012), National Social Science Fund Project (BFA200065), Jiangxi Social Science Foundation Project (21JY13), Jiangxi’Key Research Base Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (JD20068) and Science and Technology Research Project of Jiangxi’ Department of Education (GJJ200306, GJJ191698).