Why Might Poor Sleep Quality Lead to Depression? A Role for Emotion Regulation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
Keywords
Major depression, emotion regulation, sleep quality, sleep, physical activity
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1247035
Abstract
Disordered sleep is strongly linked to future depression, but the reasons for this link are not well understood. This study tested one possibility – that poorer sleep impairs emotion regulation (ER), which over time leads to increased depressive symptoms. Our sample contained individuals with a wide range of depression symptoms (current depression, N = 54, remitted depression, N = 36, and healthy control, N = 53), who were followed clinically over six months and reassessed for changes in depressive symptom levels. As predicted, maladaptive ER mediated both cross-sectional and prospective relationships between poor sleep quality and depression symptoms. In contrast, an alternative mediator, physical activity levels, did not mediate the link between sleep quality and depression symptoms. Maladaptive ER may help explain why sleep difficulties contribute to depression symptoms; implications for interventions are discussed.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Cognition and Emotion, v. 31, issue 8, p. 1698-1706
Scholar Commons Citation
O’Leary, Kimberly; Bylsma, Lauren M.; and Rottenberg, Johnathan, "Why Might Poor Sleep Quality Lead to Depression? A Role for Emotion Regulation" (2017). Psychology Faculty Publications. 2503.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/2503
