Effects Of Academic Stress On Sleep Quality Of Adolescents:Model Validation And Intervention

Sleep is a necessary physiological activity of human body,which is closely related to People’s Daily life,physiology and psychology.The sleep quality directly affects people’s physical and mental health.In recent years,a number of studies have shown that the sleep quality of adolescents is on the decline.Poor sleep quality of adolescents will affect their development,and lead to poor academic performance,lack of concentration and other consequences,resulting in NSSI,aggression and other problem behaviors.Therefore,ensuring the sleep quality of adolescents has attracted the attention of all walks of life.The factors that affect the sleep quality of adolescents are complex and varied,and some researches have explored from the aspects of cognition,emotion and stimulation.Remarkably,as academic become more competitive,parents and society have higher expectations for adolescents’ academic work.Many adolescents encounter setbacks and failures in their studies,and have academic stress because they fail to meet the requirements of school and family through their efforts.Academic stress is the main source of stress faced by adolescents,and it is an important risk factor affecting sleep quality.The study on the influence of academic stress on sleep quality and its mechanism is helpful for schools and families to have a deeper understanding of the causes of poor sleep quality,so as to seek timely solutions and carry out targeted interventions to better protect the physical and mental health of adolescents.In study 1,a convenience-sampling method was used in data collection.A total of 858 adolescents from 5 secondary schools in Hunan,Shandong and Guizhou.A moderated mediation model was established to explored the effect of academic stress on sleep quality,the mediating effect of negative affect and the moderated role of peer relationships.In study 2,A total of 46 participants from Study 1 were recruited and randomly divided into an experimental group(n = 22)and a control group(n = 24).The experimental group received weekly professional mindfulness training and daily exercises after class,while the control group did not receive any intervention.Through the analysis of the data before and after the test to investigate whether the eight-week mindfulness training can effectively intervene the negative affect of adolescents,and improve their sleep quality.The results are as follows:(1)In this study,31.8% of adolescents had poor sleep quality(PSQI≥7),and there were grade differences in sleep quality,academic stress,negative affect,and peer relationships;(2)Adolescent sleep quality,academic stress,negative affect and peer relationships were correlated pair-wise;(3)Negative affect partially mediated the effect of academic stress on sleep quality;(4)Peer relationships moderated the effect of academic stress on negative affect;(5)After eight weeks of mindfulness training,the scores of negative affect and sleep quality of the experimental group were reduced.From the above results,we can draw the following conclusions:(1)Academic stress is an important factor affecting the sleep quality of adolescents.The greater the academic stress,the worse the sleep quality;(2)Adolescent academic stress not only directly affects sleep quality,but also indirectly affects sleep quality through part of the mediating effect of negative affect;(3)Peer relationships moderated the effect of academic stress on negative affect.The higher the peer relationship level was,the less the effect of academic stress on negative affect was;(4)Eight-weeks mindfulness training is effective in reducing adolescents’ negative affect and improving sleep quality.