# The interrelationship between sleep disturbance symptoms and aggression before and after the campus closure of the COVID-19 pandemic: insight from a cross-lagged panel network model

## TL;DR

This study explores how sleep problems and aggression are linked in college students during and after the pandemic.

## Contribution

It is the first study to investigate the relationship between sleep disturbance and aggression during the COVID-19 pandemic using a cross-lagged panel network model.

## Key findings

- Hostility is central in linking sleep disturbance and aggression.
- Symptoms like 'easily be woken' and 'wake up too early' are key associations in the symptom networks.
- Most sleep disturbance symptoms improved after campus closure, except 'difficulty in falling asleep' and 'easily be woken'.

## Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is detrimental to sleep quality and increases aggression among college students. Nevertheless, relevant studies were rare. Hence, we collected longitudinal data during and post-campus closure in the current study to investigate the relationship between sleep disturbance and aggression.

Data from 665 college students (59.2% females, Meanage = 19.01, SD age = 1.25) were collected before (wave 1) and after (wave 2) the campus closure of COVID-19. All participants were asked to fill out the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and the Youth Self-Rating Insomnia Scale. Two symptom networks and a cross-lagged panel network were formed and tested.

Hostility has the highest centrality in the symptom network both in waves 1 and 2, and it bridges sleep disturbance and aggression. “Easily be woken” – “wake up too early” and “wake up with tired” – “function hindrance” are two important symptom associations in networks of waves 1 and 2. All symptoms except “difficulty in falling asleep” and “easily be woken” ameliorated after closure. Moreover, “physical aggression” and “hostility” can trigger other symptoms in wave 2.

As the first study about aggression and sleep disturbance in the background of COVID-19, we provide valuable information about the relationship between sleep disturbance and aggression on the symptom dimension.