Sleep quality and psychological resilience mediate the association between child maltreatment and externalizing and internalizing problems: A longitudinal study based on an early adolescent cohort

Child abuse (CM) is considered to be an important risk factor for adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems (EIPs), but the mediating factors that mediate the relationship between the two are different. The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating role of sleep quality and psychological resilience in CM and adolescent EIPs, and to explore the timing of these two mediating variables. Longitudinal data were collected from all the 7th grade students (N = 1814) in a middle school in Huaibei City, Anhui Province. Baseline data were collected in September 2019, followed by two follow-up visits every other year. The main data collected include general demographics, CM, sleep quality, psychological resilience, and EIPs. Correlation analysis was performed using SPASS. Chain mediation analysis in Mplus. There was an association between any two of the four variables of CM, sleep quality, psychological resilience and EIPs. Mediation analysis showed that both sleep quality and psychological resilience independently mediated the association between CM and adolescent EIPs. In addition, when sleep quality and mental resilience continuously mediated the association between CM and EIPs in adolescents, they explained 2.5% (CM-sleep quality-psychological resilience-EIPs) and 2.1% (CM-psychological resilience-sleep quality EIPs) of the CM-EIPs association.