LAUSR

Prior epidemiological research has established the relationship between sleep disturbances and depression. Sleep disturbances are also common prodromal features of and comorbid with depression. However, limitations exist across past studies, including the frequent focus on “sleep disturbances” over well-defined facets of sleep, inattention to mediators, and a lack of focus on special populations. As such, there is a need to delineate the relationship between sleep disturbances and depression across specific facets of sleep, particularly in special populations. The current study examined multiple sleep facets as mediators of the relationship between general sleep disturbances and depression severity in college student athletes. Student athletes (N = 993) from the Pacific Athlete Conference-12 completed the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire-Sleep Difficulty Subscale (ASSQ-SDS) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Parallel multiple mediator models were conducted to examine whether the relationship between sleep disturbances and depression severity was mediated by sleep duration, sleep quality, sleep onset latency, and difficulty maintaining sleep. Using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples, the indirect effect of sleep disturbances on depression severity was significantly different from zero through sleep quality (indirect effect = .17, SE = .07, 95% CI [.04, .31]) and difficulty maintaining sleep (indirect effect = .12, SE = .03, 95% CI [.06, .19]). Sleep disturbances were associated with sleep quality (b = .29, SE = .01, p < .001) and difficulty maintaining sleep (b = .16, SE = .01, p < .001). Sleep quality (b = .59, SE = .16, p < .001) and difficulty maintaining sleep (b = .78, SE = .17, p < .001) were associated with depression severity. No other mediators reached statistical significance. Results demonstrate that perceived sleep quality and difficulty maintaining sleep mediate the relationship between general sleep disturbances and depression severity in college student athletes. Findings suggest that sleep quality and difficulty maintaining sleep may be more impactful on depression than other facets of sleep and may be clinically useful targets of intervention for depression.