Effect of perceived stress on sleep quality in military personnel serving in plateau: regulatory effect of occupational stress

To explore the features of sleep quality and its relationship with perceived stress and occupational stress in military personnel serving in high-altitude regions.

Cross-sectional study design was adopted in this study. In February 2023, self-designed demographic data questionnaire, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), perceived stress scale (PSS-10) and job content questionnaire (JCQ) were applied to survey 3 784 soldiers from a unit stationing in plateau subjected by cluster sampling.

The total score of PSQI was 5.37±2.78 in the participants, and the total score and the scores of each dimension of PSQI were significantly higher than the national norms for Chinese (P < 0.001). There were significant differences in PSQI scores among different age, length of military service, nationality, length of stationing in plateau, education level and family structure (P < 0.001). The low perceived stress group had significantly lower PSQI scores than the high perceived stress group (t=-12.108, P < 0.001). Regulatory effect analysis showed that the length of stationing in plateau, work autonomy, work psychological requirements, and social support in the work environment could modulate the relationship between perceived stress and sleep quality (t=8.326, -3.788, -2.145, -6.656, P < 0.05), and explained 14.6%, 7.6%, 7.0% and 7.9% of the variance of sleep quality, respectively.

The military personnel serving in high-altitude regions have a poor sleep quality. Age, time of military service, time of stationing in plateau, nationality, family structure, education level, perceived stress, and occupational stress are important factors affecting their sleep quality. The length of stationing in plateau time and occupational stress, can modulate the relationship between perceived stress and sleep quality.