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. 2024 Mar 12:16:279-289.
doi: 10.2147/NSS.S443612. eCollection 2024.

The Mediating Role of Family Functions Between Pregnancy-Related Anxiety and Sleep Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study

Jiashu Zhu  1 , Ye Li  1 , Rui Wang  1 , Jinfang Zhang  2 , Can Liu  1 , Hongyu Li  1 , Deguang Yang  1 , Shuqin Ma  2 , Suzhen Guan  1
Affiliations

The Mediating Role of Family Functions Between Pregnancy-Related Anxiety and Sleep Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study

Jiashu Zhu et al. Nat Sci Sleep. .

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety, family functions, and sleep quality, and to determine whether family functions mediate the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety and sleep quality.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on pregnant women between April to August in 2022 in the obstetrics outpatient clinic of a tertiary care hospital in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. A total of 1014 pregnant women aged 18 years and older were surveyed. They completed questionnaires, including: general demographic characteristics, the Pregnancy-related anxiety scale (PAQ), the Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve (APGAR), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire (PSQI). Model 4 in PROCESS was used to analyze the relationships among pregnancy-related anxiety, family functions, and sleep quality, with family functions as a mediator.

Results: Among the 1014 pregnant women, the pregnancy-related anxiety scale score was (21.84 ± 5.64). The total score of the family functions scale was (8.10±2.26), and the overall sleep quality scale score was (7.89±2.99). When participants were grouped according to different socio-demographic characteristics, the study showed that all variables differed from anxiety, family functions or sleep quality, except for age, pre-pregnancy BMI and whether or not they had a first birth, which was not associated with anxiety, family functions, or sleep quality (P<0.05). The pregnancy-related anxiety was positively associated with sleep quality (P<0.01), while family functions were negatively associated with sleep quality (P<0.01). In addition, family functions mediate the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety and sleep quality during pregnancy, on the first and second trimesters, intermediation rate is 9.31% (P<0.05), and on the third trimesters, intermediation rate is 21.38% (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Pregnancy- related anxiety is a risk factor for sleep quality, however, family functions are protective factors for sleep quality. Family functions play an intermediary role in sleep quality caused by pregnancy-related anxiety, especially on the third trimesters. This finding may provide a scientific basis for developing intervention strategies to improve the sleep quality of pregnant women.

Keywords: family functions; mediation effect; pregnancy-related anxiety; sleep quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The mediating effect model of family functions on the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety and sleep quality.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlations between the pregnancy-related anxiety, family functions, sleep quality, and their subscales.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Path diagram of the mediating effect of family functions in the relationship between pregnancy-related anxiety and sleep quality (N = 1014).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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