Psychotherapists' descriptions of emotionally disturbed adolescent poor and good sleepers

Abstract

A sample of 53 poor sleepers (N = 37 boys and 16 girls) and a matched sample of 53 good sleepers were selected from a national study of 831 white, emotionally disturbed adolescents in treatment. Psychotherapists' ratings on 552 variables were examined by comparing the endorsement rates of the two groups by means of a split-sample procedure. The results yielded 74 replicated characteristics that differentiate poor from good sleepers, a number of which are highly unique to each group. Poor sleepers are consistently higher on measures associated with neuroticism, whereas good sleepers are higher on measures associated with pseudo-normalcy or psychopathy. These results present further evidence that personality dynamics play a critical role in disturbed sleep. The authors suggest that a reorientation that integrates personality and physiological findings is necessary to advance our understanding and treatment effectiveness of persons with disturbed sleep.