Negative Life Events and Negative Emotions among Chinese College Students: The Chain Mediating Roles of Social Phobia and Insomnia

中国大学生负面生活事件与负面情绪：社交恐惧症与失眠的中介作用

Authors:Mingjie Xuan, Xianmiao Cao, Yu Liu, Tongyan Deng, Shuqin Li, Yuhui Wan

Source：Psychiatric Quarterly

DOI:10.1007/s11126-025-10155-5

Abstract

Negative life events have been associated with the development of negative emotions, few studies have examined the chain mediating effect between negative life events and negative emotions among college students. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between negative life events and negative emotions in college students, as well as the chain mediating roles of social phobia and insomnia. A total of 8050 college students in three colleges in Anhui Province were selected through stratified cluster sampling method. Baseline data were collected in 2021 and followed up 6 months later. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the two. Bootstrapping procedure was used to test for mediating effects. Spearman correlation analysis showed that negative life events were significantly positively correlated with social phobia, insomnia, stress, depression and anxiety (r = 0.388, 0.319, 0.448, 0.449, 0.441). Among college students, the mediating effects of social phobia between negative life events and stress, depression, anxiety were 35.36%, 36.81%, and 37.27%, respectively. Meanwhile, the mediating effects of insomnia between negative life events and stress, depression, anxiety were 10.50%, 9.82% and 9.94%, respectively. The chain mediating effects of social phobia and insomnia between negative life events and stress, depression, anxiety were 3.31%, 3.07%, and 3.11%, in college students, respectively. These results indicate that negative life events can indirectly predict negative emotions, not only through the single mediating effect of social phobia and insomnia but also through the chain mediating effect of social phobia and insomnia.

Keywords:College students; Insomnia; Life events; Negative emotion; Social phobia.

摘要

负面生活事件与负面情绪的产生密切相关，但鲜有研究探讨负面生活事件与大学生负面情绪之间的链式中介效应。本研究旨在探讨大学生中负面生活事件与负面情绪之间的关系，以及社交恐惧症和失眠的链式中介作用。通过分层聚类抽样方法，选取了安徽省三所高校的8050名大学生作为研究对象。基线数据于2021年收集，并在6个月后进行随访。采用斯皮尔曼相关分析法分析两者之间的关系。通过Bootstrapping程序检验中介作用。斯皮尔曼相关分析显示，负面生活事件与社交恐惧症、失眠、压力、抑郁和焦虑呈显著正相关（r=0.388, 0.319, 0.448, 0.449, 0.441）。在大学生中，社交恐惧症在负面生活事件与压力、抑郁、焦虑之间的中介效应分别为35.36%、36.81%和37.27%。同时，失眠在负面生活事件与压力、抑郁、焦虑之间的中介效应分别为10.50%、9.82%和9.94%。在大学生中，社交恐惧症和失眠在负面生活事件与压力、抑郁、焦虑之间的链式中介效应分别为3.31%、3.07%和3.11%。这些结果表明，负面生活事件可以间接预测负面情绪，不仅通过社交恐惧症和失眠的单一中介效应，还通过社交恐惧症和失眠的链式中介效应。

关键词：大学生；失眠；生活事件；负面情绪；社交恐惧症。