Poster #216 - Sleep Patterns and Timing are Associated with the Regulation of Positive and Negative Emotion

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

The onset of puberty is marked by biological changes to sleep-wake regulation and timing which occur in conjunction with increased psychosocial and societal demands (e.g., early school start times). Consequently, a majority of adolescents receive inadequate amounts of sleep (Crowley et al., 2018). Importantly, chronic sleep disturbances in youth are a robust risk factor for both concurrent and prospective affective psychopathology, even decades later (Greene et al., 2015; Gregory et al., 2005). However, understanding of relationships between sleep and emotional processes that may underlie the development of psychopathology is limited, particularly in youth samples, when emotion regulation skills are developing. To further understand this relationship in youth, the current pilot study examined associations between sleep problems, sleep timing, and emotion regulation in response to both negative and positive events.

Fifty-six racially and ethnically diverse adolescents (ages 13-17; 58.6% female; 56.9% White, 31% Hispanic) completed two in-person assessments and 7-11 days of at-home sleep monitoring and daily emotional reports. Sleep was assessed objectively and via self-report, using actigraphy and the School Sleep Habits Survey (Wolfson & Carksadon, 1998). Participants also reported on their chronotype (i.e., being a “night owl” or a morning person) using the Morningness-Eveningness Scale for Children (Carksadon et al., 1993). Trait emotion regulation was assessed using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) and the Children’s Savoring Beliefs Inventory (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Participants reported on their state emotion regulation by describing their most negative and most positive event each day, and the extent to which they engaged in a range of emotion regulation strategies known to dampen/decrease or up-regulate/savor positive affect, and to decrease or increase negative affect.

Throughout the study, most adolescents (90.7%) slept significantly less than the 8-10 hours per night recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (M = 6.96 hours, SD = 47.59 min). Self-reported sleep disturbances (e.g., feeling excessively tired, difficulty falling asleep) were associated with greater trait difficulties in regulating negative emotions. Sleep disturbances were also associated with marginally fewer emotion regulatory strategies in response to negative events across the week. A later chronotype and sleep onset time measured via actigraphy were associated with greater trait-level difficulties regulating negative emotions. A later chronotype was marginally associated with less trait savoring, and a longer sleep onset time was associated with more dampening of positive emotion in response to positive events across the week. These results are displayed in Tables 1 and 2.

To date, very little research has examined how sleep patterns relate to emotion regulation in youth. In particular, this is the first study to our knowledge to investigate associations between sleep and the regulation of positive emotions specifically. Overall, results from this study suggest sleep disturbances, and in particular problematic sleep patterns surrounding bedtime (e.g., a tendency to be a “night owl” or taking longer to fall asleep), are associated with more problematic regulation strategies in response to both negative and positive emotions. Implications for youth emotional development and policy will be discussed.

Authors

• Cara Alexis Palmer, Montana State University
  Presenting Author

• Joanne L. Bower, De Montfort University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Candice A. Alfano, University of Houston
  Non-Presenting Author