The protective role of resilience-related strength in the association between sleep reactivity and insomnia symptoms among young Chinese male university students: a moderated network approach.

BACKGROUND: Sleep reactivity is closely associated with insomnia symptoms, but whether this association is moderated by different dimensions of psychological resilience remains insufficiently understood. This study examined the associations among sleep reactivity, psychological resilience, and insomnia symptoms in a sample of young Chinese male university students. METHODS: A total of 1,122 male participants (Meana ge = 21.13, SD age = 1.48) were included in the analyses. Sleep reactivity, insomnia symptoms, and psychological resilience were assessed using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test, the Insomnia Severity Index, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, respectively. Multiple regression was first used to compare the main and moderating effects of three resilience dimensions: Tenacity, Strength, and Optimism. A moderated network model was then estimated to localize moderation effects at the level of specific sleep reactivity-insomnia links. RESULTS: Multiple regression showed that sleep reactivity was positively associated with insomnia symptoms. Among the three resilience dimensions, only Strength was negatively associated with insomnia symptoms and significantly moderated the association between sleep reactivity and insomnia symptoms under conventional OLS inference. Moderated network analysis further showed that Strength moderated specific links between sleep reactivity components and insomnia symptoms, particularly the links involving sleep reactivity related to interpersonal conflict and public speaking. CONCLUSION: Strength may be an important protective psychological resource that weakens the association between stress-related sleep vulnerability and insomnia symptoms in men. These findings suggest preliminary evidence that post-stress recovery capacity may be relevant to understanding individual differences in the association between sleep reactivity and insomnia symptoms among young men.