Institute of Health Behaviors and Community Sciences, School of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Room 622, 6F, No. 17, Xu-Zhou Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County, Taiwan.
J Affect Disord. 2019 Feb 15;245:553-560. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.027. Epub 2018 Nov 5.
Peer victimization contributes to an elevated risk of adolescent depression. Although theoretical evidence has noted that peer victimization may disrupt sleep and subsequently increase levels of depressive symptoms, this pathway has never been tested. This study explores a novel mechanism leading from peer victimization to depressive symptoms through sleep problems and considers whether the direct and indirect pathways vary by age and sex of adolescents.
Data were from 4072 adolescents (2042 males, 2030 females; age range 14-19 years) residing in northern Taiwan. Mediation analyses were first conducted to understand the mediating role of sleep problems in the association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms for males and females, respectively. Moderated mediation analyses were then applied to test age differences in the direct and indirect pathways from peer victimization to depressive symptoms.
Sleep problems mediated the association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms in adolescent females but not in males. Age further moderated the indirect pathway from peer victimization to depressive symptoms through sleep problems, such that the mediating effects of sleep problems increased with age and were only significant in older females. No age differences were observed for the direct effects of peer victimization on depressive symptoms in either males or females.
Study was not designed to infer causality and all variables were assessed by self-report measures.
Our analyses revealed age and sex differences in the link from peer victimization to depressive symptoms through sleep problems. Efforts to reduce depressive symptoms in adolescent females who have experienced peer victimization may be made more effective by targeting sleep problems, especially in older female adolescents.
同伴侵害会增加青少年抑郁的风险。尽管理论证据指出，同伴侵害可能会扰乱睡眠，进而增加抑郁症状的水平，但这一途径从未得到过验证。本研究通过睡眠问题探讨了一个从同伴侵害到抑郁症状的新机制，并考虑了该途径是否因青少年的年龄和性别而有所不同。
数据来自台湾北部的 4072 名青少年（男生 2042 人，女生 2030 人；年龄 14-19 岁）。首先进行中介分析，以了解睡眠问题在同伴侵害与抑郁症状之间的关系中对男性和女性的中介作用。然后进行调节中介分析，以检验年龄对同伴侵害到抑郁症状的直接和间接途径的差异。
睡眠问题在少女中中介了同伴侵害与抑郁症状之间的关系，但在男生中没有。年龄进一步调节了通过睡眠问题从同伴侵害到抑郁症状的间接途径，即睡眠问题的中介效应随着年龄的增长而增加，并且仅在年龄较大的少女中具有统计学意义。在男性或女性中，同伴侵害对抑郁症状的直接影响均无年龄差异。
该研究旨在探讨性别和年龄差异，并非为了推断因果关系，且所有变量均通过自我报告评估。
我们的分析揭示了同伴侵害通过睡眠问题与抑郁症状之间的联系存在性别和年龄差异。对于经历过同伴侵害的少女，针对睡眠问题可能会更有效地降低其抑郁症状，尤其是在年龄较大的少女中。
