A Moderated Mediation Model of the Relationship between Family Dynamics and Sleep Quality in College Students: The Role of Big Five Personality and Only-Child Status

Abstract

Sleep quality among college students is affected by numerous factors. Previous studies have linked sleep quality to family dynamics as well as personality. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. The aim of this study is to incorporate a moderated mediation model to explore the big five personality traits in mediating the relationship between family dynamics and sleep quality and whether this indirect relationship is modified by only-child status among Chinese undergraduate students. Survey data were collected from a cross-sectional study conducted in Shandong, China and 1022 undergraduate students aged 18-24 were recruited. The mediation and moderated mediation modeling analyses were carried out with the software SPSS PROCESS macro. After controlling for gender and grade, mediation analysis indicated that conscientiousness and agreeableness of the big five personality traits partially mediated the link between family dynamics and sleep quality (β = -0.0093, CI: -0.0178, -0.0018; β = -0.0047, CI: -0.0084, -0.0013), and moderation analysis found only-child status acted as a moderator in the relationship between family dynamics and the agreeableness of the big five personality traits (only child, β = -0.0129, CI: -0.0196, -0.0072; non-only-child, β = -0.0040, CI: -0.0078, -0.0002). Results showed that family dynamics positively predicted sleep quality both directly and indirectly via the conscientiousness and agreeableness of big five personality traits. Only-child status moderated the indirect association between family dynamics and agreeableness of big five personality traits. The current study advanced our understanding of the mechanism underlying the connection between family dynamics and sleep quality and helped to develop intervention measures to improve sleep quality of college students.

Keywords: Chinese undergraduate students; agreeableness; conscientiousness; family dynamics; moderated mediation; only-child status; quality of sleep.

Figure 1

The hypothesized model.

Figure 2

The verified model of the moderated mediation effects between family dynamics and PSQI (N = 963). The study found that conscientiousness and agreeableness of big five personality traits mediated the association between family dynamics and sleep quality. Only-child status significantly moderated the impact of family dynamics on agreeableness.* p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 3

The conditional effect between family dynamics and agreeableness (N = 963). To further understand the moderation effect of only-child status on the path between family dynamics and agreeableness, a conditional indirect effect analysis was conducted at two aspects of the only-child and the non-only-child.