Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality: Associations with Depressive Symptoms Across Adolescence

This study explored whether short sleep duration and sleep quality mediate the relationship between age and depressive symptoms. For comparison, we also explored whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between age and short sleep duration and sleep quality. The sample comprised 741 adolescents (63.5% female, mean age 15.78 years, range 11.92–19.67 years) in grades 7–12 from 11 secondary schools in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Students completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Path analyses suggested that short sleep duration significantly mediated the relationship between age and depressive symptoms. Poor sleep quality also significantly mediated this relationship when sleep quality was defined by subjective judgement, but not sleep disturbance, sleep efficiency, or sleep onset latency. Depressive symptoms significantly mediated the relationship between age and short sleep duration and sleep quality (subjective jud...