Neuroticism, rumination, negative affect, and sleep: Examining between- and within-person associations

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Highlights

  • Examines neuroticism, psychological processes, and sleep in daily life

  • Uses repeated measures, ecological design in a diverse sample of adults

  • Identifies both daily- and individual-level risk factors for poor sleep

Abstract

Neuroticism is strongly implicated in the development of sleep impairment and sleep disorders such as insomnia. However, it is unclear if neuroticism is a direct predictor of sleep, and/or if it moderates associations between related psychological processes (e.g., rumination and negative affect, or NA) and sleep in daily life. We investigated: 1) neuroticism as a between-person predictor of reported sleep, 2) daily fluctuations in rumination and NA as predictors of reported sleep, and 3) neuroticism as a between-person moderator of the relationships in aim 2. A sample of racially and ethnically diverse adults (N = 242; 62% African-American, 24% Hispanic/Latina/o) completed a baseline assessment of neuroticism and then completed two weeks of daily reports, including bedtime assessments of daily rumination and NA and waking assessments of prior night's sleep. Individuals with higher neuroticism reported more impaired average sleep, but this relationship became non-significant after accounting for daily rumination and NA. Days with greater NA than one's individual average predicted more impaired sleep, regardless of average levels of NA, daily rumination, and neuroticism. Results suggest the importance of investigating both between- and within-person associations linking neuroticism, rumination, NA, and sleep and may help inform more targeted intervention efforts for improving sleep.

Introduction

Neuroticism is a personality trait characterized by a tendency to perceive one's environment as threatening and difficult to manage. It is strongly implicated in elevated risk for poor health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, and in particular, disturbed sleep and insomnia (Gurtman et al., 2014, Lahey, 2009, van de Laar et al., 2010). The connection between neuroticism and disturbed sleep seems intuitive yet needs further exploration. In cross-sectional and experimental sleep deprivation studies, neuroticism and cognitive-emotional hyperarousal have been shown to be some of the strongest vulnerability factors for poor or insufficient sleep (Calkins et al., 2013, Duggan et al., 2014, Gurtman et al., 2014, Mastin et al., 2005). However, it is unclear if neuroticism is a direct predictor of sleep, and/or if it moderates associations between related psychological processes (e.g., cognition and emotion) and sleep. Moreover, because most previous work has been cross-sectional, the daily, within-person psychological processes related to neuroticism and impaired sleep remain relatively unexplored. Daily psychological processes are important to investigate as they may be a proximal disruption to nightly sleep and may represent modifiable intervention targets. In the current research, we focus on the construct of neuroticism as both a direct predictor of reported sleep and as a potential moderator of daily associations between cognitive-emotional processes (i.e., rumination and negative affect) and reported sleep.

Rumination, or repetitive thinking about the causes and consequences of one's problems, and negative affect (NA), or emotions like anger, fear, and sadness, may each relate to impaired sleep in daily life. According to the response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), when individuals fixate on their response to a stressful event as well as the causes and effects of this response (e.g., “Why do I get distressed when others don't?”), this can prolong and heighten distress. Elevated distress can lead to hyperarousal, which makes the act of falling and staying asleep more difficult (Brosschot et al., 2006, Guastella and Moulds, 2007). Cross-sectionally, both NA and rumination have been associated with poorer subjective sleep quality (Brummett et al., 2006, Norlander et al., 2005, Zawadzki et al., 2013). In studies in daily life, when examined separately, daily NA and rumination have been shown to predict impaired subjective and objective (i.e., actigraphy-determined) sleep quality (McCrae et al., 2008, Pillai et al., 2014, Winzeler et al., 2014).

Despite some evidence of neuroticism, rumination, and NA each predicting impaired sleep, no studies have examined associations between these constructs simultaneously in daily life. Although they are likely related, neuroticism is a trait that is relatively stable over time (Lahey, 2009), whereas rumination and NA have been shown to fluctuate from day-to-day and moment-to-moment (Eid and Diener, 1999, Takano and Tanno, 2011). Neuroticism, rumination, and NA may each be unique predictors of sleep and/or may interact in daily life to predict sleep. For example, individuals higher in neuroticism may be particularly likely to suffer from the consequences of daily rumination and NA on impaired sleep. Neuroticism has been shown to moderate the link between daily stressors and NA reactivity (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995), as well as the link between negative cognitions and depressive symptoms (Hankin, Fraley, & Abela, 2005); individuals higher in neuroticism exhibit stronger positive associations between these variables compared to those lower in neuroticism. Similarly, hostility, a trait with some overlap with neuroticism, exacerbated a connection between daily NA and subjective sleep quality (Brissette & Cohen, 2002). These studies suggest that neuroticism and related traits may predict stronger associations between negative psychological states and poor health behaviors. However, no studies have examined neuroticism as a moderator of the relationships between rumination, NA, and impaired sleep quality in daily life.

This lack of research examining both individual and daily predictors of sleep across time represents an important gap in the literature. It is helpful to understand what it means for a person to vary from day-to-day on repeated measures of sleep over time (i.e., within-person effects), in addition to what it means for some people to be higher or lower overall, relative to other people, on these same measures (i.e., between-person effects; Mroczek, Spiro, & Almeida, 2003; see Smyth & Heron, 2014 for a general discussion). Both approaches are useful, but answer very different questions: Between-person analyses can identify individuals at greatest risk for adverse sleep outcomes (e.g., those higher in trait neuroticism), whereas within-person analyses can identify specific daily processes related to sleep (e.g., days characterized by more rumination or NA than average). The separation of between- and within-person effects helps avoid the ecological fallacy, where inferences about associations at one level of analysis (e.g., day-level characteristics) are conflated with associations at another level of analysis (e.g., person-level characteristics; Kramer, 1983, Zawadzki et al., 2017).

To address gaps in the literature, we investigated associations between neuroticism, rumination, NA, and sleep across a 14-day repeated-measures study. At the between-person level, we examined neuroticism as a predictor of reported sleep, with the expectation that neuroticism would be associated with more impaired average sleep quality and greater difficulty falling asleep across the 14 days. At the within-person level, we examined associations between daily rumination and NA with reported sleep; we hypothesized that on days when individuals reported relatively greater (i.e., higher than their person-mean) rumination and NA, they also would report more impaired sleep quality and greater difficulty falling asleep that night. Finally, we tested neuroticism as a moderator of the associations between daily rumination, NA, nightly sleep quality, and difficulty falling asleep, with the expectation that these associations would be stronger for those higher in neuroticism.

Section snippets

Overview

Data were drawn from the first burst of data collection from a longitudinal burst study. Participants were recruited from a housing development in the Bronx, New York using systematic probability sampling. Eligible participants were 25 to 65 years old, ambulatory, fluent in English. Exclusion criteria included inability to answer smartphone surveys throughout the day due to visual impairment or work requirements. Within each burst, participants completed a baseline assessment of neuroticism.

Descriptive and correlational results

The sample was diverse in education and income levels (e.g., 55.8% completed at least some college; 48.2% reported an annual household income below $39,999). Participants completed an average of 25 out of 28 total daily surveys (i.e., the sum of the 14 morning and 14 evening surveys) for an average compliance rate of 89%. The daily diary design captured substantial variability in rumination, NA, sleep quality, and difficulty falling asleep, both between participants and within the same

Discussion

This was the first naturalistic study to examine between- and within-person associations linking neuroticism, rumination, NA, and self-reported measures of sleep quality and difficulty falling asleep. Results provided support for some of our hypotheses but not others. Our first hypothesis was that neuroticism would be associated with poorer sleep quality and greater difficulty falling asleep after controlling for daily rumination and NA. This prediction was not fully supported. Although

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Aging grants R01AG039409, R01AG042595, AG03949, and by the National Science Foundation (NSF) DGE1255832. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NIH or NSF.

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