Sleep / Wake Disorders
Jadyn R. Gomberg, None
Undergraduate Student
California State University, Fullerton
Corona, California
Angelica Aguirre, B.A.
Graduate
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, California
Sunny Nguyen, None
Undergraduate Student
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, California
Yuko Okado, Ph.D.
Primary Investigator
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, California
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased rates of internalizing symptoms among college students (Wang et al., 2020), which may, in turn, contribute to increased rates of insomnia (Sun et al., 2020), characterized by difficulty sleeping, disrupted sleep, and awakenings (Buysse et al., 2012). One potential moderator of this effect is avoidant coping, which has been previously examined as a moderator exacerbating the effects of internalizing symptoms (Pelekanasis, 2020). Similar effects may be found among college students, whereby increased use of avoidant coping strategies may worsen the effects of internalizing distress on sleep outcomes.
Based on the existing literature, the present study examined the link between college students’ self-reported internalizing and insomnia symptoms and tested whether avoidant coping strategies (e.g., denial) would moderate this link. It was hypothesized that: (H1) Internalizing (depression, anxiety, and stress) symptoms would each positively predict insomnia symptoms and (H2) Use of avoidant coping strategies would positively moderate, or strengthen, the links in H1.
Participants included 528 U.S. college students recruited between October 2020 and June 2021. Internalizing symptoms were assessed using Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (Crawford et al., 2003), and insomnia symptoms were assessed using the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance scale (Hammer et al., 2020). Coping strategies were assessed using Brief-COPE (Carver, 1997), and a score for avoidant coping was calculated using a method developed by Eisenberg et al. (2012).
A set of three simple regression models was used to test H1 (direct effects model), and hierarchical linear regression was used to test H2 (moderation model). Consistent with H1, symptoms of depression, b=0.61, t(526)=10.85, p< .001, anxiety, b=0.67, t(526)=9.74, p< .001, and stress, b=0.79, t(526)=11.78, p< .001, positively predicted insomnia symptoms. Contrary to H2, avoidant coping did not significantly moderate any of the relationships found in H1 but had a significant direct effect in all three regression models.
Thus, each type of internalizing symptoms and avoidant coping both directly predicted insomnia symptoms, whereas avoidant coping did not have a significant moderating effect. This finding suggests that treatments that address internalizing symptoms as well as reduce the use of avoidant coping strategies may be especially effective in reducing insomnia symptoms among young adults. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I; Irwin et al., 2021) may hold promise for improving or preventing internalizing symptoms; potential recommendations for the addition of intervention components that address avoidant coping strategies will be discussed.