Longitudinal Associations between Future Time Perspective, Sleep Problems, and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese College Students: Between- and within-Person Effects.

Abstract

Depressive symptoms and sleep problems are extremely prevalent in adolescence, and future time perspective has been found to be strongly associated with them. However, little is known about the longitudinal relationship and the temporal dynamics of future time perspective, sleep problems, and depressive symptoms. Moreover, it is unclear whether sleep problems mediate the associations between future time perspective and depressive symptoms. To address this gap, a one-year longitudinal study was performed using data collected at three waves from 622 Chinese college students (aged 17-22 years, M_age = 18.16, SD = 1.49, 46.95% males). The results of cross-lagged panel models showed a bidirectional relationship between future time perspective and depressive symptoms, and that sleep problems were a mediating mechanism for these relationships. The results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models showed that at the within-person level, the change of sleep problems and depressive symptoms significantly affected the development of future time perspective, but the reverse effect not significant. Moreover, sleep problems mediated the within-person effect of depressive symptoms on future time perspective. These findings deepen the understanding of the longitudinal relationship between future time perspective, sleep problems and depressive symptoms, and emphasize the important role of sleep health in adolescent mental health and future development.