Yatagan Sevim Gulin, Law Tina Yuet, Evans Simon L
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2025 Mar 19;20(3):e0319915. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319915. eCollection 2025.
Chronotype influences risk of depression, with evening-types at higher risk, although the reasons for this are uncertain. Potential mediating factors include mindfulness, sleep quality, rumination, and alcohol consumption, but research is lacking.
We explored the role of these factors in the association between chronotype and depressive symptoms amongst young adults, using cross-sectional data collected from a university student sample (N = 546).
Evening-types had significantly higher levels of depression symptoms, poorer sleep quality, and lower levels of 'acting with awareness' and 'describing', as well as higher rumination and alcohol consumption. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the link between chronotype and depression was fully mediated by 'acting with awareness', 'describing', sleep quality, and alcohol consumption.
Only subjective measures were employed, and due to the cross-sectional design, no causal inferences can be made.
The mediation results shed light on the crucial role of specific mindfulness facets, sleep, and alcohol consumption for explaining why evening types are at higher risk of depression; findings have import for potential interventions aiming to reduce depression risk amongst young adults in particular.
昼夜节律类型会影响抑郁症风险，夜型人的风险更高，尽管其原因尚不确定。潜在的中介因素包括正念、睡眠质量、反刍思维和饮酒，但相关研究较少。
我们利用从大学生样本（N = 546）中收集的横断面数据，探讨了这些因素在年轻人昼夜节律类型与抑郁症状之间关联中的作用。
夜型人的抑郁症状水平显著更高，睡眠质量更差，“有意识行动”和“描述”水平更低，反刍思维和饮酒量更高。中介分析表明，昼夜节律类型与抑郁之间的联系完全由“有意识行动”、“描述”、睡眠质量和饮酒量介导。
仅采用了主观测量方法，且由于采用横断面设计，无法进行因果推断。
中介分析结果揭示了特定正念方面、睡眠和饮酒在解释夜型人为何抑郁症风险更高方面的关键作用；研究结果对于旨在降低年轻人尤其是抑郁症风险的潜在干预措施具有重要意义。
