Nature and Science of Sleep (Aug 2024)
Self-Compassion as a Mediator Linking Sleep Disturbances with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: A Four-Wave, Cross-Lagged Study
Abstract
Xuliang Shi,1,* Miaomiao Hou,1,* Xiaoyan Chen,2 Ya Zhu3 1College of Education, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province, 071002, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; 3Center for Mental Health Education and Counseling, Guangdong University of Science and Technology, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, 523083, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xuliang Shi, Associate professor at the College of Education, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal relationship between sleep disturbances with non-suicidal self-injury and whether self-compassion mediates these associations.Methods: A total of 5785 freshmen were sampled from a large-scale health-related cohort among Chinese college students at the baseline. This study spanned six waves with a six-month interval between each wave. Data from the last four waves were used because self-compassion or non-suicidal self-injury was not measured in the first two waves. The cross-lagged panel models were used to examine the longitudinal dynamic relationships between sleep disturbances, self-compassion, and non-suicidal self-injury.Results: The results showed that all the auto-regressive paths were significant. For the cross-lagged paths, there was a reciprocal relation between sleep disturbances and self-compassion. Importantly, self-compassion played a longitudinal mediating role in the prediction from sleep disturbances to non-suicidal self-injury (indirect effect = 0.007 to 0.009, all p values < 0.001).Conclusion: Psychological interventions targeting improved sleep quality and self-compassion may hold great promise for reducing the incidence of non-suicidal self-injury.Keywords: sleep disturbances, self-compassion, NSSI, longitudinal design
