Childhood Trauma and Stressful Life Events Are Independently Associated with Sleep Disturbances in Adolescents.

Suman K R Baddam,Rene L Olvera,Craig A Canapari,Michael J Crowley,Douglas E Williamson

doi:10.3390/bs9100108

Abstract

Adolescence is a critical developmental period associated with an increase in stress, the appearance of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and changes in sleep patterns. Even though the disruption of sleep patterns in stress and anxiety and depressive disorders is well known, the independent effects of childhood trauma and stressful life events on sleep patterns are less understood. We tested the independent effects of stress (childhood trauma and stressful life events) while controlling for anxiety and depression on adolescent sleep patterns. Seven hundred fifty-two adolescents (age 12–15 years) completed self-report questionnaires about childhood trauma, stressful life events, anxiety, and depression. Four sleep factors identifying movement during sleep, sleep regularity, sleep disturbances, and sleep pressure were extracted in the principal component analysis of sleep questions. Both childhood trauma and recent stressful life events were significantly associated with sleep disturbances before and after controlling for anxiety and depression.

Highlights

Adolescence is a critical transitional period associated with an increase in stress, significant social readjustments [1], and high reactivity to stress [2]
Building upon the current literature of the effects of childhood stress and anxiety and depressive symptoms, we investigated if childhood trauma and stressful life events are independently associated with altered sleep patterns in adolescence
Childhood trauma was significantly associated with sleep disturbances (Factor 3) after controlling for anxiety and depressive symptoms scores

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is a critical transitional period associated with an increase in stress, significant social readjustments [1], and high reactivity to stress [2]. Stress in the form of childhood trauma is common [3] and associated with the development of mental health disorders [4,5,6], lower school engagement [7], poor health outcomes [6], and high suicide rate [5]. Stress in the form of stressful life events is common in adolescence and impacts psychological functioning [8,9], mental health symptoms, and substance use [10]. Severe stressful events in childhood are associated with anxiety and depression in adolescents [11,12,13,14]. A study that assessed both childhood trauma and stressful life events showed that childhood trauma, but not stressful life events, were associated with developing anxiety and depressive symptoms [15,16]. It is possible that severe childhood trauma has a more adverse impact on well-being and differentially impacts the development of mental health symptoms [15,16,17,18]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion