Associations between sleep quality and irritability: Testing the mediating role of emotion regulation

[en] Objectives: Irritability and sleep problems are common symptoms that span a range of internalizing and externalizing mental health disorders. While poor sleep has been associated with symptoms related to irritability (e.g., anxiety and depression), few studies have directly tested the association between sleep quality and irritability and whether the association is direct or mediated by a separate mechanism. Method: The present study used self-report measures to test whether sleep is associated with irritability in 458 adults aged 19–74 years (58 % female; 79 % White), and whether this association is mediated by emotion regulation. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to support the use of scores from these measures. Results: Controlling for anxiety and depression symptoms, results showed a direct association between poorer sleep quality and increased irritability (β = 0.25, p < .001) that was not mediated by emotion regulation. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the important link between sleep and irritability, both of which are common features of mental health difficulties, prompting further inquiry into the directionality of the findings and potential mediators. This work has notable clinical implications for sleep as a possible intervention target for individuals with high irritability.

Disciplines :

Treatment & clinical psychology

Author, co-author :

Whiting, Claire ; Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, United States

Bellaert, Nellia ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Educatio > Service de Psychologie cognitive et Neuropsychologie ; Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, United States

Deveney, Christen ; Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, United States

Tseng, Wan-Ling ; Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, United States

Language :

English

Title :

Associations between sleep quality and irritability: Testing the mediating role of emotion regulation

Publication date :

October 2023

Journal title :

Personality and Individual Differences

ISSN :

0191-8869

eISSN :

1873-3549

Publisher :

Elsevier Ltd

Volume :

213

Pages :

112322

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0191886923002453?httpAccept=text/xml

Research unit :

- Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology

Research institute :

Santé

Funders :

Yale School of Medicine
National Institute of Mental Health
Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale School of Medicine
Charles H. Hood Foundation
Wellesley College
BAEF - Belgian American Educational Foundation

Funding text :

This work was supported by funds from Wellesley College to C.D. W-L.T is supported by grants from the NIMH ( R00MH110570 ), Charles H. Hood Foundation , and Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists from the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation .

Available on ORBi UMONS :

since 11 December 2023

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