The impact of loneliness on sleep quality in college students: a chained mediation model involving perceived stress and expressive suppression

Previous studies have indicated a close association between loneliness and sleep quality. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism that link these constructs, especially the potential intermediary roles of expressive suppression and perceived stress is not well established. The current study employed a chained mediation model to explore the association between loneliness and sleep quality among college students, focusing on the mediating roles of expressive suppression and perceived stress. This study contributed to a nuanced theoretical understanding by highlighting expressive suppression and perceived stress as mediating factors in college students' sleep studies. This current study utilized a cross-sectional design to administer questionnaires to 1,065 students randomly selected from the university town of Bengbu, Anhui Province, China from April to October 2024, using the following four instruments, namely the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Russell Loneliness Scale (UCLA), the Emotion Regulation Scale (ERQ), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The Questionnaires were rigorously screened with Mahalanobis distance and 1040 questionnaires were ultimately selected out for analysis while 25 were identified as haphazardly completely questionnaires and were subsequently excluded. This research employed Mplus for data analysis. (1) The sleep quality indices of college students showed a substantial and positive correlation with feelings of loneliness, perceived stress, and expressive suppression. (2) expressive suppression and perceived stress act as chain mediators between loneliness and sleep quality. This research found that expressive suppression and perceived stress serve as mediators in the relationship between loneliness and sleep quality among college students. Our findings suggest tailored interventions targeting perceived stress and expressive suppression should be developed to address college students' sleep problems, and priorities should be accorded to strategies aimed at managing perceived stress.