Perceived stress, competitive state anxiety, depression and sleep quality in Chinese athletes During the COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, and its associated stressors have resulted in decreased sleep quality among athletes. This study aimed to test the correlation between perceived stress and sleep quality and to figure out whether competitive state anxiety and depression mediate this association.Methods: The Perceived Stress Scale, Self-rating Depression Scale, CSA Inventory-2, and Pittsburgh SQ Index were administered in 590 Chinese athletes (275 females, age = 19.93+2.90 years). Mediation analyses were used to investigate whether competitive state anxiety and depression mediate the correlation between perceived stress and sleep quality in athletes.Results: The results indicated that perceived stress was positively related to poor sleep quality (r = 0.232, p < 0.001). Moreover, competitive state anxiety (ab = 0.0347, Boot SE =0.0179, Boot 95% CI = [0.0252, 0.1091]) and depression (ab = 0.0235, Boot SE = 0.0120, Boot 95% CI = [0.0032, 0.0502]) mediated the correlation between perceived stress and sleep quality in athletes.Conclusions: These findings contributed to a better understanding of how perceived stress related to sleep quality in athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic and indicated that perceived stress, competitive state anxiety, and depression are risk factors in the development of athletes’ poor sleep quality.