Chain mediating effect of mindfullness and sleep quality between negative life events and depression among college students

Objective To explore the role of mindfullness in the negative life events, depression, and poor sleep quality. Methods Using five facet mindfullness questionnaire(FFMQ), adolescents self-rating life events checklist(ASLEC), self-rating depression scale(SDS) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) to investigate 2 792 freshmen in a medical university in Guangzhou. Results The FFMQ score(126.02±12.14) was negatively correlated with ASLEC score(23.93±19.81), SDS score(35.89±7.31) and PSQI score(3.45±2.13)(r=-0.17, r=-0.44, r=-0.26, P<0.01). The boys in the aspects of " mindfullness-inaction" scored significantly higher than that of girls (21.20 ± 3.36, 20.52±2.88, P<0.01). The girls scored significantly higher than boys in the PSQI, SDS (3.58±2.15, 3.21±2.08, P<0.05; 36.22±7.26, 35.27±7.35, P<0.01). Mindfullness and sleep quality showed a chain-mediated effect between negative life events and depression, and the model fitting was good (RMSEA=0.048, CFI=0.962, TLI=0.943). The total mediating effect size was 61.41%. The mediating path through mindfullness, with the effect size of 16.71%, and the chain-mediating effect was 8.94%. Conclusion The higher the level of mindfullness, the lower the individual's depression score and the better the quality of sleep.Mindfullness and the sleep quality play a role of chain-mediating effect between negative life events and depression. Key words: Mindfullness; Negative life events; Depression; Sleep quality; Chain mediating effect