ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aimed to examine the mediating effects of sleep quality in the association between beverages consumption and depressive symptoms in Chinese university students, and to provide a theoretical reference for preventing and reducing depression symptoms.@*Methods@#This school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out among 4 624 university students from 2 universities in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces of China. The patient health questionnaire-9 items (PHQ-9) was used to assess depressive symptoms. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index（PSQI） was used to assess sleep quality, and a self-reported dietary frequency questionnaire was used to measure beverages consumption. The quantile regression model was used to association analysis, and the latent variable mediation model was used to analyze the mediation effect.@*Results@#The positive rates of mild, moderate, moderate to severe and severe depression in 4 624 university students were 31.4%, 7.5%, 4.1% and 2.0%, respectively. There was a significant association between the beverages consumption score, the PSQI score, and the PHQ-9 score( P <0.01). The higher the quantile of the beverage consumption and PSQI score, the greater the regression coefficient ( β ), and a significant dose-response relationship was observed( P <0.01). In the latent variable mediation model of beverages consumption associated with depressive symptoms in Chinese university students, the mediating effect value of sleep quality was 0.12, and the ratio of mediating effect to total effect was 71.3%.@*Conclusion@#Our study demonstrates that poor sleep quality partially mediates the association between beverages consumption and depressive symptoms in Chinese university students.