Abstract
Introduction
Social support from friends, family, and significant loved ones is critical to sustaining mental health during crises. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the populace has had to restrict many aspects of normal social contact. Consequently, social isolation and accompanying feelings of loneliness have spiked. There has also been a contemporaneous increase in the rates of insomnia. Considering this correlation, we investigated the potential role of various types of social/emotional support on the severity of insomnia. We hypothesized that greater social support from family, friends, and significant loved ones would all contribute to lower insomnia during the pandemic.
Methods
During October 2020, 1020 participants (58.2% female) completed an online survey that included the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), a measure of social support, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a measure of insomnia. The severity of insomnia was predicted using multiple linear regression, with the three sources of support from the MSPSS (family, friend, and significant other) entered stepwise.
Results
All three sources of support were significantly correlated with lower ISI scores (family, r=-.163, p= p = 1.6x10-7; friend, r=-.125, p=6.5x10-5; significant other, r=-.095, p=.002). However, when all three variables were entered into stepwise regression, only increased familial support was significantly associated with lower insomnia levels (R2 = 0.027, β =-.163, p = 1.6x10-7). In contrast, neither the support of friends nor support from significant others added any additional predictive power once family support was in the model.
Conclusion
While perceived social support from friends and significant others was correlated with lower insomnia, we found that ISI scores were most significantly associated with perceived family support. In fact, once family support was accounted for, other sources of support did not account for additional variance. Ongoing family support plays a critical role in mental health and wellbeing, which is clearly demonstrated in the quality of sleep. During the social distancing imposed by the pandemic, it is vital that we find creative ways to maintain familial social support. Future work may benefit by examining the association between the use of electronic technologies to sustain social support and sleep outcomes.
Support (if any):
Dispositional Mindfulness and Adjustment to University
