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

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 (<0.05). The pregnancy-related anxiety was positively associated with sleep quality (<0.01), while family functions were negatively associated with sleep quality (<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% (<0.05), and on the third trimesters, intermediation rate is 21.38% (<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.