Association Between Violence Exposure Within and Across Contexts and Sleep Problems Among Chinese Children

Abstract

Previous research has established that exposure to violence is linked to sleep problems among children. However, it is unclear whether linkages between exposure to violence and sleep problems vary by form (witnessing and victimisation) or context (family, school and community). This study compared associations of two forms (witnessing and victimisation) of violence exposure within and across contexts (family, school and community) with sleep problems among children. Gender differences were also examined in the above association. A total of 710 students (M_age = 10.94, SD = 0.76) were recruited from 10 elementary schools in Zhejiang Province, China. All participants completed the Multiple Forms of Violence Questionnaire and the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. SPSS 27.0 and Mplus 8.3 were used to analyse the data. Results showed that within the family context, family victimisation was more strongly associated with sleep problems than witnessing family violence. Across contexts, both witnessing school violence and witnessing community violence were more strongly associated with sleep problems than witnessing family violence, while family victimisation was more relevant than community victimisation. No significant gender differences were found in the above association. These findings help to understand the association between different forms of violence exposure across different contexts and sleep problems, thus providing practical guidance for the prevention and intervention of sleep problems in violence-exposed children.