Longitudinal associations between heterogeneous sleep profiles and depressive symptoms in adolescents: The mediating role of coping styles

The co-existence of naturally occurring sleep profiles among adolescents and the longitudinal associations between sleep profiles and depressive symptoms remain poorly understood. This study aims to uncover sleep patterns in Chinese adolescents based on a comprehensive set of sleep features (e.g., latency, daytime dysfunction, etc.) derived from the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and investigate these profiles’ effect on depressive symptoms through positive and negative coping styles. 5,505 Chinese adolescents were enrolled (Mage = 16.83; 49.9% girls). Four qualitatively distinct sleep profiles emerged: Healthy Sleepers (18.9%), Insomnia but Functioning Sleepers (13.6%), Efficient but Dysfunctional Sleepers (57.5%), and Medicated Maladaptive Sleepers (10.0%). Compared to Healthy Sleepers, all other profiles showed diminished positive coping (with no similar changes in negative coping), which predicted subsequent increases in depressive symptoms. The study highlighted how being placed into disadvantaged sleep profiles—especially medicated maladaptive sleepers—may result in maladaptive changes in positive coping strategies, which, in turn, led to more depressive symptoms among adolescents.