Personality patterns of adolescent poor and good sleepers.
To determine whether poor sleepers have a unique personality constellation significantly different from that of good sleepers, a sample of 162 emotionally disturbed adolescent poor sleepers was compared to a sample of 153 emotionally disturbed adolescent good sleepers on standardized personality instruments. Poor sleepers were found to have a high incidence of neurotic psychopathology with personality patterns characterized by depression, fearfulness, inhibition, anxiety, and rumination. In contrast, good sleepers showed quasi-healthy and/or characterological patterns. While this study does not resolve cause and effect relationships, it does establish a highly significant relationship between neuroticism and sleep disturbance for adolescent boys and girls, and also demonstrates a similarity of personality dynamics and patterns between adult and adolescent samples of patients with sleep disturbances.
D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011779:Q-Sort; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment