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Association of self-efficacy and coping with sleep quality and disturbances with an emphasis on mediating role of eating behaviors and body mass index: A structural equation modeling approach

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Abstract

Sleep quality is influenced by various physiological and psychological parameters. We aimed to investigate the predictors of sleep quality, including eating behavior patterns, body mass index, self-efficacy, and coping strategies among university students. Three hypotheses were tested: 1) self-efficacy could predict sleep quality; 2) coping strategies could predict sleep quality and 3) eating behavior patterns and body mass index could mediate the association of self-efficacy and coping strategies with sleep quality. In a cross-sectional study, Sherer’s self-efficacy questionnaire, Jalowiec coping scale, eating behavioral patterns, and Pittsburgh’s sleep quality index questionnaires were collected from 250 female university students. The results of analyzing data using the structural equation modeling approach showed that the first and second hypotheses were fully confirmed but the third hypothesis was only partially supported. Higher self-efficacy and problem-focused coping strategies could positively predict better sleep quality, but higher emotion-focused coping strategies negatively predicted good sleep quality. Moreover, eating behavior patterns and body mass index could mediate the association between self-efficacy and emotion-focused (but not problem-focused) coping strategies with sleep quality. In brief, the total effects of self-efficacy, emotion-focused, and problem-focused coping strategies on sleep quality were β = −0.260, β = 0.327 and β = −0.209; p < 0.001, respectively. The present study provides new evidence about the predictors of sleep quality among university students. However, further studies are required with longitudinal design and with more objective assessments of sleep quality.

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Data Availability

The dataset is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

EBPQ:

Eating Behavior Pattern Questionnaire

HEB:

Healthy Eating Behaviors

UHEB:

Unhealthy Eating Behaviors

PSQI:

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

SQE:

Sleep Quality & Efficiency

SDist:

Sleep Disturbances

PFCS:

Problem-Focused Coping Strategy

EFCS:

Emotion-Focused Coping Strategy

SEM:

Structural Equation Modeling

BMI:

Body Mass Index

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their gratitude to all participants for their valuable contributions to this study. The study is supported financially by Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran (No:65825 ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Parvin Dehghan

  2. Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Aydin Aynehchi & Elham Moslemi

  3. Faculty of Health, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

    Sevda Saleh-Ghadimi

  4. Department of Statistics and Epidemiology School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi

  5. Center for the Development of Interdisciplinary Research in Islamic Sciences and Health Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi

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  1. Parvin Dehghan
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  2. Aydin Aynehchi
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  3. Sevda Saleh-Ghadimi
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  4. Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi
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Contributions

Parvin Dehghan: Supervision, project administration, study design & methodology, data collection, and manuscript revision.

Aydin Aynehchi: Data collection, statistical analysis and writing the original draft and manuscript revision.

Sevda Saleh-Ghadimi: Data collection, writing the manuscript and revision.

Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi: Study design & methodology and statistical analysis.

Elham Moslemi:  Revision of the statistical analysis and the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Aydin Aynehchi or Sevda Saleh-Ghadimi.

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Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Ethical committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences has approved the protocol of the study (Ethical Code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1399.752). An informed consent was obtained from all of the participants at the beginning.

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Not applicable.

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Dehghan, P., Aynehchi, A., Saleh-Ghadimi, S. et al. Association of self-efficacy and coping with sleep quality and disturbances with an emphasis on mediating role of eating behaviors and body mass index: A structural equation modeling approach. Curr Psychol 41, 7471–7481 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01774-9

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