| dc.description.abstract | Anxiety is a very prevalent phenomenon across all cultures with a high relevance for societies
regarding disability and costs. Stress is considered as a possible cause of anxiety and it can be
distinguished between objective stress, like stressful life events, or subjective stress, like the stress
level for certain events. Previous research demonstrated a positive relation between stress and
anxiety symptoms. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this association.
Sleep problems seemed to be a possible mediator by presenting a positive relation with stress and
anxiety symptoms. This study aimed at replicating the findings about the relation between stress
and anxiety symptoms, as well as testing sleep problems as possible mediator of this association. An
online-study with questionnaires measuring stress, sleep problems and anxiety symptoms was
conducted and analysed with linear regression and mediation analyses for 289 participants. Results
showed a significant relation between stressful life events and anxiety symptoms, as well as
between the stress level and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, sleep problems mediated the link
between stressful life events and anxiety symptoms, as well as between the stress level and anxiety
symptoms. This preliminary finding about sleep problems as underlying mechanism in the link
between stress and anxiety can stimulate future research for replication and this knowledge can be
useful in improving psychological interventions for individuals suffering from stress induced
anxiety symptoms after further consolidation of the research results | |
