Adolescent Sleep Difficulties and Maternal and Adolescent Conflict Reactivity Among Families With Elevated Anxiety

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Sleep difficulties are common among adolescents and are associated with increased risk for psychopathology, in particular, anxiety (Brown et al., 2018).
Additionally, adolescent sleep difficulties are associated with increased difficulties regulating thoughts and affect (Brand et al., 2016; Talbot et al., 2010), which may contribute to heightened affective reactivity to parent-adolescent conflict. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) has also been associated with adolescent sleep disturbances (Weiner, Meredith, Elkins, Pincus, & Comer, 2015) and enhanced affective reactivity. No studies, however, have examined how adolescent sleep difficulties and AS may interact to affect real time affective reactions to stressors. This study addresses that gap. It was hypothesized that after controlling for baseline levels of affective responses, adolescent anger during parent-adolescent conflict would exert an indirect effect on the relation between sleep disturbances and tendency to avoid parent-adolescent conflict. It was further hypothesized that adolescent AS would moderate the indirect effects, such that adolescent sleep disturbances would be more strongly associated with adolescent anger following conflict among adolescents with elevated AS.
Seventy-two adolescents (n = 39 males) between the ages of 12 and 16 (Mage = 13.84, SD = 1.38) and their mothers were recruited from the local community for a larger study focused on parent-adolescent communication and maternal anxiety. Parental consent and adolescent assent were obtained in the laboratory. Adolescents completed the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman, Fleisig, Rabian, & Peterson, 1991) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysee, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989) in a private room. Dyads then completed a standardized conflict task. Before and after the conflict task, self-reported anger was assessed by asking adolescents to rate their anger on a 0 to 100 scale (0 = no anger to 100 = extreme anger) (SUDS-Anger; Wolpe, 1958). Adolescents privately rated their anger before and after the task. Adolescents then completed the Emotional Regulation Interview (ERI; Werner, Goldin, Ball, Heimberg, & Gross, 2011) with a trained interviewer.
Results suggested that AS moderated the indirect association of post conflict SUDS-Anger on the relation between PSQI and adolescent reported tendency to avoid conflict (B = -.16, SE = .09 BC 95% CI [-.35, -.02]). Moderated mediation indicated that the indirect association of post-conflict SUDS-Anger on the relation between PSQI and adolescent tendency to avoid conflict was significant for adolescents relatively low in AS (B = .92, SE = .50, BC 95% CI [.09, 2.00]), but not for adolescents at average (B = .07, SE = .31, BC 95% CI [-.56, .73]) or high levels of AS (B = -1.04, SE = .71, BC 95% CI [-2.71, .04]). This suggests that for adolescents lower in AS, higher PSQI scores were related to higher post-conflict SUDS-Anger, which predicted higher adolescent tendency to avoid conflict. Findings are discussed in terms of next steps to improve our understanding of the relation between sleep, adolescent affect, and familial conflict among youth at risk for elevated anxiety.

Authors

• Hannah Friedman, University of Mississippi
  Presenting Author

• Maxwell Jared Luber, University of Mississippi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily Olson, University of Mississippi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Ann Bilsky, University of Mississippi
  Non-Presenting Author