Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 11:15:207-216.
doi: 10.2147/NSS.S401452. eCollection 2023.

Sleep Reactivity and Related Factors in Adolescence: An Increased Risk for Insomnia? A Longitudinal Assessment

Maren-Jo Kater  1 , Anika Werner  1 , Angelika Anita Schlarb  2 , Arnold Lohaus  1
Affiliations

Sleep Reactivity and Related Factors in Adolescence: An Increased Risk for Insomnia? A Longitudinal Assessment

Maren-Jo Kater et al. Nat Sci Sleep. .

Abstract

Purpose: The individual vulnerability for stress-related sleep difficulties (eg, sleep reactivity) is known as a predisposing factor of insomnia in adults, yet relatively little is known about sleep reactivity in adolescence. The study goal is to determine factors related to sleep reactivity and to investigate whether sleep reactivity and related factors predict current and new incidents of insomnia in adolescents.

Patients and methods: At baseline, 11-to-17-year-olds (N = 185, Mage = 14.3 years, SD = 1.8, 54% female) answered an age-appropriate version of the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test, questionnaires about sleep, stress, psychological symptoms, and resources, filled out a sleep diary and used actigraphy. Insomnia diagnoses according to ISCD-3 criteria were assessed at baseline, after 9 months and after one and a half years.

Results: Adolescents with high compared to low sleep reactivity had increased pre-sleep arousal, negative sleep-related cognitions, pre-sleep mobile phone use, stress experience, stress vulnerability, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, less social resources, and a later midpoint of bedtime. High sleep reactivity increased the likelihood for currently having insomnia, but not for the development of insomnia at subsequent assessments.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that high sleep reactivity is related to poor sleep health and mental health but cast doubt on sleep reactivity as a pivotal predisposing factor for the development of insomnia in adolescence.

Keywords: mental health; resources; sleep disorder; sleep vulnerability; stress; youth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ms Maren-Jo Kater reports grants from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), publication funding from Open Access Publication Fund of Bielefeld University, before and after the conduction of the study. Dr Arnold Lohaus reports grants from German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), before the conduct of the study. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Franco P, Putois B, Guyon A, et al. Sleep during development: sex and gender differences. Sleep Med Rev. 2020;51:101276. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101276 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zambotti M, De, Goldstone A, Colrain IM, Baker FC. Insomnia disorder in adolescence: diagnosis, impact, and treatment. Sleep Med Rev. 2018;39:12–24. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2017.06.009 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kalmbach DA, Cuamatzi-Castelan AS, Tonnu CV, et al. Hyperarousal and sleep reactivity in insomnia: current insights. Nat Sci Sleep. 2018;10:193–201. doi:10.2147/NSS.S138823 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Drake C, Richardson G, Roehrs T, Scofield H, Roth T. Vulnerability to stress-related sleep disturbance and hyperarousal. Sleep. 2004;27(2):285–291. doi:10.1093/sleep/27.2.285 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jarrin DC, Chen IY, Ivers H, Morin CM. The role of vulnerability in stress‐related insomnia, social support and coping styles on incidence and persistence of insomnia. J Sleep Res. 2014;23:681–688. doi:10.1111/jsr.12172 - DOI - PubMed