Open Access

ARTICLE

Sleep Quality and Emotional Adaptation among Freshmen in Elite Chinese Universities during Prolonged COVID-19 Lockdown: The Mediating Role of Anxiety Symptoms

Xinqiao Liu^*, Linxin Zhang, Xinran Zhang

School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China

* Corresponding Author: Xinqiao Liu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Coping with Life Stress During/After the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Mental Health)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(2), 105-116. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2023.042359

Received 27 May 2023; Accepted 24 November 2023; Issue published 08 March 2024

Abstract

Under the effects of COVID-19 and a number of ongoing lockdown tactics, anxiety symptoms and poor sleep quality have become common mental health issues among college freshmen and are intimately related to their emotional adaptation. To explore this connection, this study gathered data from a sample of 256 freshmen enrolled in an elite university in China in September 2022. The association between sleep quality, anxiety symptoms, and emotional adaptation was clarified using correlation analysis. Additionally, the mediating function of anxiety symptoms between sleep quality and emotional adaptation was investigated using a structural equation model. The results reveal that: (1) Chinese elite university freshmen who were subjected to prolonged lockdown had poor sleep quality and mild anxiety symptoms; (2) a significant positive correlation between poor sleep quality and anxiety symptoms was identified; (3) anxiety symptoms were found to have a significant negative impact on emotional adaptation; (4) poor sleep quality had a negative impact on emotional adaptation through anxiety symptoms. This research makes a valuable contribution by offering insights into the intricate relationship between sleep quality and emotional adaptation among freshmen in elite Chinese universities during prolonged lockdown conditions, and it is beneficial for schools and educators to further improve school schedules and psychological health initiatives.

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Keywords

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