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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
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The relationships between sleep disturbances, resilience and anxiety among preschool children: A three-wave

Xiuxiu Ding1, Shaodi Ma1, Haixia Liu1

  • 1Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China.

Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|March 3, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Preschool children with more sleep disturbances showed higher anxiety symptoms over time. Strengthening resilience can help alleviate anxiety in young children, highlighting the need for early screening and intervention.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Mental Health Research

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances and anxiety symptoms are prevalent in preschool children.
  • Resilience plays a crucial role in children's mental well-being.
  • Longitudinal studies are essential to understand the dynamic interplay of these factors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the bidirectional relationships between sleep disturbances, resilience, and anxiety symptoms in preschool children.
  • To determine if sleep disturbances predict future anxiety, and vice versa.
  • To examine the role of resilience in mitigating anxiety symptoms.

Main Methods:

  • A three-wave longitudinal study involving 1169 preschool children in China.
  • Data collected annually over three years, assessing sleep disturbances, resilience, and anxiety symptoms.
  • Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling used to analyze the complex relationships.

Main Results:

  • Sleep disturbances at earlier time points significantly predicted increased anxiety symptoms at later time points.
  • Resilience at a later time point was found to significantly predict lower anxiety symptoms.
  • Anxiety symptoms did not significantly predict subsequent sleep disturbances or resilience.

Conclusions:

  • Sleep disturbances are a significant longitudinal predictor of anxiety symptoms in preschool children.
  • Enhancing resilience in young children can buffer against the development of anxiety.
  • Early screening for sleep disturbances and anxiety, coupled with resilience-building programs, is recommended for prevention.
Abstract

Keywords:
AnxietyChildCross-lagged modelResilienceSleep disturbances

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