Internalizing and externalizing traits predict changes in sleep efficiency in emerging adulthood: an actigraphy study.

Ashley C Yaugher,Gerianne M Alexander

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01495

Abstract

Research on psychopathology and experimental studies of sleep restriction support a relationship between sleep disruption and both internalizing and externalizing disorders. The objective of the current study was to extend this research by examining sleep, impulsivity, antisocial personality traits, and internalizing traits in a university sample. Three hundred and eighty six individuals (161 males) between the ages of 18 and 27 years (M = 18.59, SD = 0.98) wore actigraphs for 7 days and completed established measures of disorder-linked personality traits and sleep quality (i.e., Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). As expected, sleep measures and questionnaire scores fell within the normal range of values and sex differences in sleep and personality were consistent with previous research results. Similar to findings in predominantly male forensic psychiatric settings, higher levels of impulsivity predicted poorer subjective sleep quality in both women and men. Consistent with well-established associations between depression and sleep, higher levels of depression in both sexes predicted poorer subjective sleep quality. Bidirectional analyses showed that better sleep efficiency decreases depression. Finally, moderation analyses showed that gender does have a primary role in sleep efficiency and marginal effects were found. The observed relations between sleep and personality traits in a typical university sample add to converging evidence of the relationship between sleep and psychopathology and may inform our understanding of the development of psychopathology in young adulthood.

Highlights

The co-occurrence of sleep problems and affective symptoms such as anxiety and depression is well established (Lavigne et al, 1999; Alfano et al, 2007, 2009)
Impulsivity and Psychopathic Personality Traits As impulsivity is a central construct of psychopathic personality traits we examined the unique variance of both self-reported impulsivity (BIS-11 scores) and psychopathic (TriPM total scores) traits, on actigraph measures of average sleep efficiency using a simultaneous multiple regression with these scores as predictors
The aim of the current study was to examine the nature of the association between sleep and traits of both externalizing and internalizing traits in emerging adults

Summary

Introduction

The co-occurrence of sleep problems and affective symptoms such as anxiety and depression is well established (Lavigne et al, 1999; Alfano et al, 2007, 2009). It has been well established that externalizing (e.g., impulsivity, hyperactivity) and internalizing (e.g., loneliness, depression, anxiety) symptoms increase sleep difficulties (Cousins et al, 2011; Doane and Thurston, 2014). Studies in adolescence have found increased incidence of self-reported loneliness and stress results in decreased sleep duration and other sleep problems (Doane and Thurston, 2014). This same study showed that sleep difficulties resulted in increases in reported stress and loneliness (Doane and Thurston, 2014) These results suggest that there is a bidirectional relationship between sleep problems and psychopathology. In a longitudinal study of 82 adolescents they found a bidirectional relationship between objective sleep measures and internalizing symptoms, but only three nights of objective sleep data was required (Doane and Thurston, 2014)

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