Associations of loneliness and sleep chronotype with depressive symptoms: a structural equation modeling approach.

IF 1.7 4区医学 Q2 BIOLOGY

Chronobiology International Pub Date : 2025-10-08 DOI:10.1080/07420528.2025.2571193

Xiaobing Xian, Ruochong Wang, Yao Wu, Qianying Shi, Li Zeng, Tengfei Niu

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Abstract

This study explores the relationship between loneliness, sleep chronotype (SC), and depressive symptoms (DS) in Chinese college students, with a focus on SC's mediating role. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1,079 college students, using validated instruments to assess loneliness, SC, and DS. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between loneliness and DS (r = 0.549, p < 0.01) and a negative correlation between SC and both loneliness (r = -0.177, p < 0.01) and DS (r = -0.206, p < 0.01). Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that SC partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and DS, with a significant indirect effect (β = 0.016, 95% CI: 0.003-0.035, p = 0.013). The findings suggest that college students with higher loneliness are more likely to have an evening-type sleep pattern, which exacerbates depressive symptoms. This study emphasizes the role of sleep-wake preference as a potential target for interventions to alleviate the effects of loneliness on adolescent depression, contributing to mental health prevention and treatment strategies.

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孤独和睡眠类型与抑郁症状的关联：结构方程建模方法

本研究旨在探讨中国大学生孤独感、睡眠时型（SC）和抑郁症状之间的关系，并重点探讨睡眠时型的中介作用。对1079名大学生进行了横断面调查，使用有效的工具来评估孤独感、SC和DS。Pearson相关分析显示孤独感与DS呈显著正相关（r = 0.549, p r = -0.177, p r = -0.206, p p = 0.013）。研究结果表明，孤独感较高的大学生更有可能有晚睡型的睡眠模式，这会加剧抑郁症状。本研究强调睡眠-觉醒偏好作为缓解孤独感对青少年抑郁症影响的潜在干预目标，为心理健康预防和治疗策略提供依据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Chronobiology International 生物-生理学

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

7.10%

发文量

110

审稿时长

1 months

期刊介绍： Chronobiology International is the journal of biological and medical rhythm research. It is a transdisciplinary journal focusing on biological rhythm phenomena of all life forms. The journal publishes groundbreaking articles plus authoritative review papers, short communications of work in progress, case studies, and letters to the editor, for example, on genetic and molecular mechanisms of insect, animal and human biological timekeeping, including melatonin and pineal gland rhythms. It also publishes applied topics, for example, shiftwork, chronotypes, and associated personality traits; chronobiology and chronotherapy of sleep, cardiovascular, pulmonary, psychiatric, and other medical conditions. Articles in the journal pertain to basic and applied chronobiology, and to methods, statistics, and instrumentation for biological rhythm study. Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/page/cbi/Description