Perceived Stress Positively Relates to Insomnia Symptoms: The Moderation of Resilience in Chinese Pregnant Women During COVID-19

Hongyu Zou; Zhen Tao; Yongjie Zhou; Zhiguo Zhang; Chunyan Zhang; Linling Li; Jiezhi Yang; Yanni Wang; Wei Huang; Jianhong Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.856627

Perceived Stress Positively Relates to Insomnia Symptoms: The Moderation of Resilience in Chinese Pregnant Women During COVID-19

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 27:13:856627. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.856627. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hongyu Zou^{1

2}, Zhen Tao¹, Yongjie Zhou¹, Zhiguo Zhang³, Chunyan Zhang¹, Linling Li³, Jiezhi Yang⁴, Yanni Wang⁵, Wei Huang¹, Jianhong Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Mental Health Center/Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
² School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
³ School of Biomedical Engineering, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Shenzhen Health Development Research Center, Shenzhen, China.
⁵ Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: The government's COVID-19 pandemic response lockdown strategy had a negative psychological and physical impact on individuals, which necessitated special care to pregnant women's mental health. There has been no large-scale research on the underlying relationship between perceived stress and insomnia symptoms in pregnant Chinese women up to this point. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to see if there was an association between perceived stress and insomnia symptoms, as well as the moderating impact of resilience for Chinese pregnant women.

Methods: This cross-sectional study examined 2115 pregnant women from central and western China using multi-stage sampling methodologies. A systematic questionnaire was used to collect information on sleep quality, perceived stress, and resilience using the Insomnia Severity Index, Perceptual Stress Scale, and Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale. To assess the moderating influence of resilience, hierarchical regressions were used.

Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, 18.53% of respondents (N = 2115) reported experiencing sleeplessness. In pregnant women, perceived stress was positively linked with insomnia symptoms (p < 0.001). Furthermore, resilience significantly attenuated the influence of perceived stress on insomnia symptoms in Chinese expectant mother (β_interaction = -0.0126, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Pregnant women with strong resilience were less influenced by perceived stress than those with poor resilience. The findings of this study might give empirical proof that health care professionals should identify the relevance of reducing perceived stress in pregnant women with poor resilience and provide better treatment and support when necessary.

Keywords: moderation effect; perceived stress; pregnant women; resilience; sleep quality.