Sleep Patterns Related to Emotion Dysregulation Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Rachel S Fisher; Taylor M Dattilo; Christina M Sharkey; Katherine A Traino; Hannah C Espeleta; Kendra N Krietsch; John M Chaney; Larry L Mullins

doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsab084

Sleep Patterns Related to Emotion Dysregulation Among Adolescents and Young Adults

J Pediatr Psychol. 2022 Feb 3;47(1):111-120. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsab084.

Authors

Rachel S Fisher¹, Taylor M Dattilo¹, Christina M Sharkey², Katherine A Traino¹, Hannah C Espeleta³, Kendra N Krietsch^{4

5}, John M Chaney¹, Larry L Mullins¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Center for Pediatric Psychology, Oklahoma State University, USA.
² Department of Neurology, Children's National Hospital, USA.
³ College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychology, St. Louis Children's Hospital, USA.
⁵ School of Medicine, Washington University, USA.

PMID: 34414439
DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsab084

Abstract

Objective: Adolescents and young adults in the college setting often report poor sleep hygiene and quality. These sleep difficulties may be related to emotion dysregulation, which is highly relevant to broader adjustment. The current study aimed to empirically identify latent groups of healthy college students with distinct subjective sleep patterns and examine differences in emotion dysregulation between subgroups.

Methods: College students (N = 476; Mage=19.38) completed the Adolescent Sleep-Wake Scale-Revised, Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale-Revised, and Difficulties in Emotion Dysregulation Scale. Most participants were White (78%), non-Hispanic/Latinx (85%), and female (77%). Latent profile analysis identified patterns of sleep with maximum likelihood estimation. Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars procedure evaluated differences in emotion dysregulation by class.

Results: A three-class model had optimal fit, Bayesian information criterion = 11,577.001, Bootstrapped Parametric Likelihood Ratio Test = -5,763.042, p < .001, entropy = .815. The three profiles identified were good sleep (overall high sleep quality and hygiene; n = 219), moderate sleep (low sleep quality with mix of low and high sleep hygiene; n = 221), and poor sleep (very low sleep quality and hygiene; n = 36). Those in the good sleep group (M = 68.06, SE = 1.5) reported significantly less emotion dysregulation than the moderate sleep group (M = 92.12, SE = 1.67; X2(2) = 98.34, p = .001) and the poor sleep group (M = 99.51, SE = 4.10; p < .001). The moderate and poor sleep groups did not significantly differ, X2(2) = 2.60, p = .11.

Conclusions: Emotion dysregulation differed across three sleep profiles, with participants classified in the good sleep group reporting, on average, the lowest emotion dysregulation, compared to the moderate and poor sleep groups. These findings highlight contextual factors of sleep that may be clinically targeted to promote emotion regulation.

Keywords: adolescents; emerging/young adults; psychosocial functioning; sleep.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Bayes Theorem
Emotions
Female
Humans
Sleep
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders*
Sleep Wake Disorders* / psychology
Universities
Young Adult