Maladaptive Personality Traits and Sleep Quality: The Role of an Active Avoidance Coping Strategy Among University Students

Abstract The present study investigates the relationship between maladaptive personality traits (MPTs) and sleep quality in undergraduate students, focusing on escape–avoidance as a mediator. Drawing on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress and coping framework, we hypothesized that specific MPTs (i.e., negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism) correlate with lower sleep quality and are mediated by avoidance coping. A sample of 403 undergraduate students from a Romanian university completed a questionnaire that measured MPTs, escape–avoidance coping strategy, and sleep quality. Results revealed significant associations between MPTs and poor sleep quality. Mediation analysis indicated that avoidance coping partly mediated these relationships, with indirect effects ranging from b = .10, 95% CI [.05, .16] (detachment) to b = .15, 95% CI [.08, .22] (disinhibition). These findings align with the theoretical framework proposed by Lazarus and Folkman, emphasizing the role of maladaptive coping strategies in the stress–response process, where avoidance coping depletes psychological resources and contributes to poor outcomes. This study underscores the importance of targeting maladaptive coping strategies, particularly avoidance, to the understanding of sleep issues in students.