Relationship between childhood maltreatment and insomnia in middle school students： a moderated mediation model

Abstract

ObjectiveTo clarify the relationship between childhood maltreatment and insomnia in middle school students， and to explore the mediating role of post-traumatic stress disorder （PTSD） symptoms and the moderating role of mental resilience involvement.MethodsFrom April to May 2021， a total of 3 412 students in 3 middle schools in a city in western China were selected using convenient sampling method， and all students were assessed by Childhood Trauma Questionnaire （CTQ）， Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale （PCL）， Insomnia Severity Index （ISI） and mental resilience scale. The moderated mediating effect analysis was conducted using Process v3.4.ResultsAmong the middle school students， CTQ scores were positively correlated with PCL and ISI scores （r=0.540， 0.320， P<0.05）， and the scores of CTQ， PCL and ISI were negatively correlated with the score of mental resilience scale （r=-0.049， -0.193， -0.132， P<0.05）. PTSD symptoms exhibited a partial mediating effect on the relationship between general childhood maltreatment and insomnia （β=0.161， P<0.05）， accounting for 80.5% of the total effect.ConclusionAmong the middle school students， the relationship between childhood maltreatment and insomnia is partially mediated via PTSD symptoms， and mental resilience exerts a moderating role between childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptoms.

Keywords

• childhood maltreatment
• insomnia
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• mental resilience
• middle school students