Disaster Exposure and Insomnia Severity During 7⋅20 Flood in Henan: The Moderated Mediation Model

Natural disaster exposure is considered to be one of the risk factors for mental health. We investigated whether natural disaster exposure was associated with insomnia severity and the roles of catastrophizing and dark personalities in the association. The current study, using data collected from 1526 participants (27.50 ± 15.49 years old, 40.4% male), was conducted within 2 weeks after the 7⋅20 flood in Henan, China. Results showed that natural disaster exposure was significantly positively associated with insomnia severity, catastrophizing partially mediated the association between natural disaster exposure and insomnia severity, and the Dark Triad played moderating roles in the mediation model. Specifically, higher levels of the Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy weakened the negative link between disaster exposure and catastrophizing; whereas a higher level of narcissism exacerbated the relationships between natural disaster exposure and catastrophizing, and between natural disaster exposure and insomnia severity in the mediation model. The present results may provide important practical implications: the preventions and interventions that target the change of Dark Triad traits and the mitigation of catastrophizing could potentially be more effective in counteracting the development of sleep issues following exposure to floods.