Functional connectome mediates the association between sleep disturbance and mental health in preadolescence: A longitudinal mediation study

Sleep disturbance is known to be associated with various mental disorders and often precedes the onset of mental disorders in youth. Given the increasingly acknowledged bidirectional influence between sleep disturbance and mental disorders, we aim to identify a shared neural mechanism that underlies sleep disturbance and mental disorders in preadolescents. We analyzed a dataset of 9,350 9–10 year‐old children, among whom 8,845 had 1‐year follow‐up data, from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Linear mixed‐effects models, mediation analysis, and longitudinal mediation analysis were used to investigate the relationship between sleep disturbance, mental disorders, and resting‐state network connectivity. Out of 186 unique connectivities, the effect of total sleep disturbance (TSP, from Sleep Disturbance Scale) and mental problems (MP, from Child Behavior Checklist) converged in the default mode network (DMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN). Within‐ and between‐network connectivities (DMN‐DAN, DMN‐DMN, DAN‐DAN) mediated the relationship between baseline TSD and MP at 1‐year follow‐up and the relationship between baseline MP and TSD at 1‐year follow‐up. The pathway model in which sleep disturbance and mental problems affect each other through two anticorrelated brain networks (DMN and DAN) suggests a common neural mechanism between them. Longitudinally, a less segregated DMN and DAN is associated with negative outcomes on mental well‐being and sleep disturbance a year later. These findings have important implications for the design of prevention and neurofeedback intervention for mental disorders and sleep problems.