Sleeping the mind before the body: Mechanisms of psychological inflexibility on sleep quality among Chinese college students

The present study examined the role of emotional balance and the moderating role of rumination in the relationship between psychological inflexibility and sleep quality among college students. Participants were 837 Chinese college students (females = 52%, mean age = 18.89, SD = 0.93 years). They completed the Multidimensional Psychological Inflexibility Scale (MPIS), Affect Balance Scale (ABS), Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We utilized moderated-mediation analysis to explore the mechanism of action among variables. Emotional balance mediated the relationship between psychological inflexibility and sleep quality, and rumination moderated the direct effect of psychological inflexibility on sleep quality and the mediating effect of emotional balance. Specifically, the direct effect of psychological inflexibility on sleep quality and the mediating effect of emotional balance increased with the increase in rumination level. High levels of rumination in individuals exacerbate the negative effects of psychological inflexibility on sleep quality. It also enhances the disruption of psychological inflexibility on the individual’s emotional balance ability, which leads to poorer sleep quality. The results contribute to the evidence of how psychological inflexibility explains the sleep quality of college students and how sleep quality can be improved by psychological inflexibility interventions, rumination interventions, and emotional balance interventions. Student development services should provide targeted students’ sleep quality counseling for the promotion and maintenance of college students’ physical and mental health.