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Sleep disturbance mediates the association of adverse childhood experiences with mental health symptoms and functional impairment in US soldiers
Author(s) -
Conway Morgan A.,
Cabrera Oscar A.,
ClarkeWalper Kristina,
Dretsch Michael N.,
Holzinger Jayne B.,
Riviere Lyndon A.,
Quartana Phillip J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.13026
Subject(s) - mental health , association (psychology) , sleep (system call) , adverse childhood experiences , functional impairment , psychology , reset (finance) , psychiatry , clinical psychology , sleep disorder , medicine , gerontology , cognition , economics , psychotherapist , operating system , computer science , financial economics
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have long‐term impacts on a person's mental health, which extend into adulthood. There is a high prevalence of ACEs among service members. Further, service members also report frequently experiencing disrupted sleep. We hypothesized that disrupted sleep may serve a mechanistic function connecting ACEs to functional impairment and poorer mental health. In a cross‐sectional sample ( n = 759), we found evidence for an indirect effect of ACEs on mental health outcomes through disrupted sleep. In a different sample using two time‐points ( n = 410), we found evidence for an indirect effect of ACEs on changes in mental health outcomes and functional impairment during a reset period, through changes in disrupted sleep during the same period. Implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.