Abstract
The study examined the relationship between self-compassion and sleep quality. We also investigated whether the relationship was mediated by brooding, perceived stress, sleep hygiene, and anxiety about sleep and whether self-compassion was associated with anxiety, depression, and mental well-being indirectly through sleep quality. A sample of 468 adults completed measures of demographics, health, sleep quality, self-compassion, predisposing (arousability, brooding, perfectionism, interpersonal problems), precipitating (perceived stress, presence of life-changing events) and perpetuating (sleep hygiene, anxiety about sleep) factors of insomnia, depression, anxiety and mental well-being. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that low self-compassion was significantly associated with poorer sleep quality when controlling for socio-demographic variables, health-related factors and predisposing factors of insomnia. The association, however, became non-significant when precipitating and perpetuating factors of insomnia were added to the model. Structural equation modelling showed that the relationship between self-compassion and sleep quality was mediated by anxiety about sleep and through sequential mediations involving anxiety about sleep and then sleep hygiene; or anxiety about sleep, perceived stress and then sleep hygiene; or perceived stress and then sleep hygiene. Poor sleep in turn was associated with anxiety and depression, which had a negative effect on mental well-being. This study provided cross-sectional evidence that low self-compassion is a potential risk factor for poor sleep quality, and consequently, poor mental well-being. These findings provide insights into possible mechanisms underlying the relationship between self-compassion and sleep quality that could inform etiological models of insomnia.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We are thankful to our participants and Professor Elizabeth A. Maylor, University of Warwick, the United Kingdom for permission to access her lab’s older adult research panel.
Funding
The study has been supported by Bolashak scholarship, JSC “Center for International Programs”, Kazakhstan.
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Arman Rakhimov, Anu Realo and Nicole K. Y. Tang designed the study protocol. Arman Rakhimov acquired the data. Arman Rakhimov, Anu Realo and Nicole K. Y. Tang conducted the data analysis. Arman Rakhimov and Nicole K. Y. Tang wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors contributed to critical review and revision of the manuscript.
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Nicole K. Y. Tang received current and past grant funding as principal investigator or co-investigator from National Institute for Health Research and Medical Research Council, UKRI for other projects related to sleep and/or chronic pain, as well as the use of non-pharmacologic sleep interventions.
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The protocol of the study was approved by the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Warwick, UK on 29 May 2019. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Warwick, UK and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Rakhimov, A., Ong, J., Realo, A. et al. Being kind to self is being kind to sleep? A structural equation modelling approach evaluating the direct and indirect associations of self-compassion with sleep quality, emotional distress and mental well-being. Curr Psychol 42, 14092–14105 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02661-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02661-z