Childhood maltreatment, emotion regulation difficulties/externalizing problems, and sleep problems in adolescents: Direct and indirect associations among developmental trajectories

Background

The deleterious effects of childhood maltreatment, emotion regulation difficulties (ERD), and externalizing problems (EP) on sleep problems has been established. Nevertheless, there is still a need to gain a deeper understanding of the potential direct and indirect mechanisms through which these crucial risk factors influence adolescents’ sleep problems, particularly with a developmental perspective. This study thus aimed to examine the direct and indirect associations among developmental trajectories of the focal variables in adolescents.

Methods

A total of 1648 Chinese adolescents (48.12% boys; M_age = 13.69 years, SD = 0.82) completed self-report measures on 3 time points across 1 years. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the hypothesized models.

Results

Both the developmental trajectory of childhood maltreatment and the developmental trajectory of ERD/EP were positively and directly related to the developmental trajectory of sleep problems; and the developmental trajectory of childhood maltreatment was indirectly related to the developmental trajectory of sleep problems through the mediating effect of the developmental trajectory of ERD/EP.

Conclusions

The findings elucidated the direct and indirect longitudinal associations among the focal variables, highlighting that interventions should target childhood maltreatment and ERD/EP to decrease sleep problems in adolescents with a developmental perspective.