Technostress and Mental Health among Physical Education Students: The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality and a Latent Profile Analysis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Digital learning environments have made technostress an emerging health risk for college students. Using cross-sectional survey data from 1,035 undergraduate and postgraduate students in physical education–related majors in China, this study examined whether sleep quality mediates the associations of technostress with depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction, and used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups with different health risks. Overall, 52.9% of students reported poor sleep quality, and 17.8% and 9.0% reached the clinical cut-offs for depression and anxiety, respectively. Sleep quality partially mediated the effects of technostress on depression (48.4% mediated) and anxiety (41.3% mediated), and showed a suppression effect on life satisfaction. Four profiles were identified: healthy adaptation (24.7%), subclinical digital fatigue (55.6%), sedentary behavioral inhibition (10.4%), and resource-depleted psychological distress (9.3%). These findings suggest that technostress harms students’ mental health mainly by impairing sleep, and that health risks vary considerably across students. Universities should adopt tiered interventions and redefine the boundaries of digital learning.
Author: Han Yuan
Institution: Xiangtan University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7223208601