The Relationship Between Loneliness and Sleep Disturbances: The Roles of Community Resilience, Social Support, Anxiety, and Substance Use Coping

This study examined the relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbances and explored the roles of community resilience and psychosocial factors (social support, anxiety, and substance use coping) in shaping this relationship. A spatially stratified random sampling approach was applied to select households between Interstate 10 and the Gulf of Mexico coastline across three Mississippi counties: Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson. Amos version 30 was used to analyze the proposed structural equation model (SEM) based on responses from 310 participants (mean age = 50.47 years, SD = 17.57; 53.3% female). Data were collected using validated self-report instruments, including the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale, the GAD-2, and the Brief COPE. Results revealed that initially, a significant association was observed between loneliness and sleep disturbances. However, this direct association was non-significant upon the inclusion of anxiety and substance use coping, showing instead a statistically significant indirect association operating through anxiety symptoms. Higher levels of loneliness were associated with increased anxiety symptoms, which in turn were associated with higher sleep disturbances. No indirect relationship between loneliness and sleep disturbances through substance use coping was found. The results also found that higher levels of community resilience and social support were associated with lower levels of loneliness. These findings highlight the need for multilevel strategies to improve sleep quality, which creates a nested system in which community strengths and individual support systems are jointly positioned as upstream correlates of lower individual isolation.