School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
Department of Psychology, School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China.
J Affect Disord. 2022 Aug 1;310:17-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.114. Epub 2022 Apr 22.
Exposure to domestic violence has been shown to be an important risk factor of depression in western studies, but has received less attention in Chinese context. Additionally, the underlying mechanism of its link with depression has not been fully studied. With a longitudinal design, we examined the mediating role of sleep problems between exposure to domestic violence and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents, and further considered potential age and gender differences in the direct and indirect pathways.
Participants were recruited from primary and junior high schools in China and were surveyed across two waves with a 6-month interval. There were 1949 participants at Wave 1 and 1283 at Wave 2. Structural equation model was conducted to examine the mediating role of sleep problems in the association between exposure to domestic violence and depressive symptoms. Multigroup analyses were applied to test potential age and gender differences in the process.
Participants' exposure to domestic violence predicted increasing sleep problems, which further predicted more depressive symptoms. Age and gender moderated the indirect pathway from exposure to domestic violence to depressive symptoms through sleep problems, such that the mediating effects of sleep problems were significantly stronger in early-age adolescents and girls than middle-age ones and boys.
Parents should avoid the use of corporal punishment and protect their children from domestic violence. For adolescents who have underwent domestic violence, parents and clinicians might consider to decrease their depressive symptoms by ameliorating sleep problems, especially for the early-age adolescents and girls.
在西方研究中，暴露于家庭暴力已被证明是抑郁的一个重要危险因素，但在中国背景下，这一问题受到的关注较少。此外，其与抑郁之间的联系的潜在机制尚未得到充分研究。本研究采用纵向设计，考察了睡眠问题在青少年遭受家庭暴力与抑郁症状之间的中介作用，并进一步考虑了直接和间接途径中的潜在年龄和性别差异。
参与者来自中国的小学和初中，在两次调查之间间隔 6 个月。第一次调查有 1949 名参与者，第二次调查有 1283 名参与者。采用结构方程模型检验睡眠问题在家庭暴力暴露与抑郁症状之间的关联中的中介作用。多组分析用于检验该过程中潜在的年龄和性别差异。
参与者遭受家庭暴力的经历预测了睡眠问题的增加，而睡眠问题又进一步预测了更多的抑郁症状。年龄和性别调节了从家庭暴力暴露到睡眠问题再到抑郁症状的间接途径，表明睡眠问题的中介作用在青少年早期和女孩中比在青少年中期和男孩中更为显著。
父母应避免使用体罚，并保护孩子免受家庭暴力。对于遭受家庭暴力的青少年，父母和临床医生可以考虑通过改善睡眠问题来减轻他们的抑郁症状，特别是对于青少年早期和女孩。
