0248 Does Attentional Control Relate to Sleep Disruption and Repetitive Negative Thinking?

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Insomnia is associated with increased repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and poor attentional control. There is increasing interest in the relevance of these processes for psychopathology. For example, Cox, Cole, Kramer and Olatunji (2018) proposed that focusing and shifting in attentional control may help explain the link between sleep disturbance and RNT. In support, attentional focus was found to be significant in the relationship between insomnia and RNT. As this study looked at disorder-specific measures of RNT and only insomnia, the current study aimed to replicate and extend the findings by also examining circadian sleep disruption and transdiagnostic RNT. Methods The current study included 127 participants. Sleep disruption was assessed by the SLEEP-50 (Spoormaker, Verbeek, van den Bout & Klip, 2005). This measure provides several subscale scores, including disruption in circadian rhythms and insomnia. The Attentional Control Scale (Derryberry & Reed, 2002) is a measure of attentional focus and shifting which was also utilized. Lastly, the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (Ehring et al., 2011) is a widely used transdiagnostic measure of RNT. Results Pearson’s Correlations indicated that both insomnia and circadian disruptions were significantly associated with RNT (insomnia, r=.27; circadian, r=.24). Mirroring the results of Cox, Cole, Kramer and Olatunji, attentional focus was significant (insomnia, r=-.29; circadian, r=-.28), whereas attentional shift was not (insomnia, r=.02; circadian, r=.06). Conclusion The connection between sleep disruption and factors that contribute to psychopathology needs to be better understood. This study differentiates types of attention and their relation to insomnia and circadian sleep disruption, and RNT. If attentional focus can link sleep disruption and RNT, clinicians can move one step closer to understanding the development of risk factors that may jeopardize an individual. Support n/a