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. 2022 Jul 18:14:1299-1310.
doi: 10.2147/NSS.S360610. eCollection 2022.

Can You Sleep? - Effect of Retrospective Recall of Child Maltreatment on Sleep Parameters and the Mediating Role of Psychological Distress Among Students of Two German Universities

Marion Jarczok #  1 , Stephanie Lange #  1 , Matthias Domhardt  2 , Harald Baumeister  2 , Andreas Jud  1   3
Affiliations

Can You Sleep? - Effect of Retrospective Recall of Child Maltreatment on Sleep Parameters and the Mediating Role of Psychological Distress Among Students of Two German Universities

Marion Jarczok et al. Nat Sci Sleep. .

Abstract

Purpose: Child maltreatment may be linked with long-term sleeping disorders and limited coping with stress. Yet, the potential relationships are only marginally studied.

Patients and methods: Based on a sample of young adults (n = 312) this study aims at exploring the effects of child maltreatment and the experience of threat to personal safety and life in childhood on sleep disturbances in early adulthood. Data were collected at the two study sites, Ulm University and Bielefeld University, by an online survey. For both risk factors, child maltreatment and the experience of threat to personal safety and life in childhood, a direct impact on sleep disturbances and an indirect path via psychological distress were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).

Results: In these models, the direct path to sleep disturbances turned out to be significant for the experience of threat to personal safety and life (Path C: b = 0.18, p = 0.013), but not for child maltreatment (Path C: b = 0.05, p = 0.491). However, the current level of psychological distress was found to have a mediating effect on sleep disturbances for both risk factors, thereby confirming indirect significant effects.

Conclusion: Considering that the etiological pathway of child maltreatment on sleeping disturbances is mediated via psychological distress, this provides a venue to test in future research whether stress reduction interventions can reduce the negative consequences of child maltreatment on sleep disorders.

Keywords: child maltreatment; sleep disorders; stress; structural equation modelling; unsafety.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effect of child maltreatment on sleep disturbances in early adulthood.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The effect of existential threat in childhood on sleep disturbances in early adulthood.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mediation analysis of child maltreatment and psychological distress on sleep disturbances.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mediation analysis of threat for personal safety and life and psychological distress on sleep disturbances.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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