Adults are thought to show a sleep-stress spiral in which greater stress worsens sleep quality, which amplifies stress, which leads to worse sleep. This study examined whether adolescents show a similar spiral, and if so, whether coping self-efficacy—believing one can cope with stress—interrupts the spiral. Temporal dynamics of perceived stress, sleep quality, and coping self-efficacy were tracked in 381 9th graders (49% female, mean age 14.43, age range 14–16) using daily surveys across two school weeks (3184 observations). Though expected associations were evident between individuals, only a unidirectional path was found within individuals from sleep quality to perceived stress via coping self-efficacy. This challenges the conventional bidirectional understanding of sleep-stress relations and suggests coping self-efficacy as an intervention target.
