Previous studies in the neuroscience and psychology literature works suggest that poor sleep quality is associated with emotion dysregulation, and that poor sleep quality and emotion dysregulation are, independently, associated with the presence and severity of psychiatric symptoms. However, no previous study has examined simultaneous relations among multiple different emotion regulation strategies, sleep quality, and mental health outcomes. Such investigations are particularly important given the extensive literature describing the prevalence and manifestation of poor mental health outcomes in university students. This study investigated the influence of both maladaptive (avoidance and impulsivity) and adaptive (cognitive reappraisal) emotion regulation strategies on sleep quality and, subsequently, on the degree of depressive and posttraumatic symptomatology in a sample of South African university students (N = 336). Participants completed self-report instruments measuring their tendency to use avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, and impulsivity; their sleep quality; their accessibility to social support; and their number of depressive and posttraumatic symptoms. Structural equation modelling showed that more use of avoidance and impulsivity and less use of cognitive reappraisal negatively affected sleep quality, which, in turn, was associated with the presence of more depressive and more posttraumatic symptoms. Hence, our findings suggest that emotion regulation indirectly exerted its influence on the manifestation of psychiatric symptoms through sleep. We conclude that interventions targeted at improving sleep quality may prove beneficial in lessening the burden of depressive and posttraumatic symptoms in university students.

先前在神经科学和心理学文献中的研究表明，睡眠质量差与情绪失调有关，而睡眠质量差和情绪失调独立地与精神病症状的存在和严重程度有关。但是，以前没有研究检查多种不同的情绪调节策略，睡眠质量和心理健康结果之间的同时关系。鉴于大量文献描述了大学生心理健康状况较差的发生率和表现，因此这种调查尤为重要。这项研究调查了不良适应（回避和冲动）和适应性（认知重新评估）情绪调节策略对睡眠质量的影响，随后，N  = 336）。参加者完成了自我报告工具，以测量他们使用回避，认知重新评估和冲动的趋势；他们的睡眠质量；他们获得社会支持的机会；以及他们的抑郁和创伤后症状的数量。结构方程模型表明，更多地使用回避和冲动，而更少地使用认知重新评估会对睡眠质量产生负面影响，而睡眠质量反过来又会带来更多的抑郁和创伤后症状。因此，我们的研究结果表明，情绪调节通过睡眠间接影响了精神症状的表现。我们得出的结论是，针对改善睡眠质量的干预措施可能有助于减轻大学生的抑郁和创伤后症状负担。