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Author(s): Zhenzhou Bao [sup.1] , Yanping Jiang [sup.2] , Jianjun Zhu [sup.3] , Wei Zhang [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.464274.7, 0000 0001 2162 0717, School of Educational Science, Gannan Normal [...], Previous studies have documented the negative association between school connectedness and deviant peer affiliation among adolescents. The potential mediating mechanisms linking school connectedness to deviant peer affiliation, however, have not fully examined. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the potential mediating effect of sleep problems on the association between school connectedness and deviant peer affiliation in a sample of 1010 adolescents (44% male; mean age = 14.95 ± 1.69 years) from southern China. Adolescents self-reported measures on school connectedness, sleep problems, and deviant peer affiliation. Results showed that there was a statistically significant indirect effect of school connectedness on deviant peer affiliation through sleep problems, and such an indirect effect was consistent across gender. These results may facilitate the understanding of the potential mechanisms contributing to the development of deviant peer affiliation in adolescents.

Author(s): Eric S. Kim[sup.1] [sup.3] , Shelley D. Hershner[sup.2] [sup.3] , Victor J. Strecher[sup.2] [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, 48109-1043, Ann Arbor, [...], Purpose in life has been linked with better mental health, physical health, and health behaviors, but the association between purpose and sleep is understudied. Sleep disturbances increase with age and as the number of older adults rapidly increases, it is ever more important to identify modifiable factors that are associated with reduced incidence of sleep disturbances. We used multiple logistic regression models and data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 50, to examine whether higher purpose was linked with a reduced incidence of sleep disturbances. Among 4144 respondents reporting minimal or no sleep disturbances at baseline, higher purpose was associated with a lower incidence of sleep disturbances over the 4-year follow-up. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, each unit increase in purpose (on a six-point scale) was associated with a 16 % reduced odds of developing sleep disturbances (OR 0.84, 95 % CI 0.77-0.92). The association between purpose and sleep disturbances remained after adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral, psychological, and health covariates. Should future research replicate our findings, this area of research may lead to innovative efforts that improve the quality of sleep in older adults.

We examined sleep difficulties preceding death in a sample of adolescent suicide completers as compared with a matched sample of community control adolescents. Sleep disturbances were assessed in 140 adolescent suicide victims with a psychological autopsy protocol and in 131 controls with a similar semistructured psychiatric interview. Rates of sleep disturbances were compared between groups. Findings indicate suicide completers had higher rates of overall sleep disturbance, insomnia, and hypersomnia as compared with controls within both the last week and the current affective episode. Group differences in overall sleep disturbance (both within the last week and present episode), insomnia (last week), and hypersomnia (last week) remained significant after controlling for the differential rate of affective disorder between groups. Similarly, overall sleep disturbance (last week and present episode) and insomnia (last week) distinguished completers in analyses accounting for severity of depressive symptoms. Only a small percentage of the sample exhibited changes in sleep symptom severity in the week preceding completed suicide, but of these, a higher proportion were completers. These findings support a significant and temporal relationship between sleep problems and completed suicide in adolescents. Sleep difficulties should therefore be carefully considered in prevention and intervention efforts for adolescents at risk for suicide. Keywords: suicide, sleep, sleep disturbance, sleep problems, adolescents

Byline: N. A. Hamilton (1), C. A. Nelson (1), N. Stevens (1), Heather Kitzman (2) Keywords: sleep; psychological well-being; depression; anxiety Abstract: Although many studies have linked sleep problems with symptoms of psychopathology, fewer studies have examined the relationship between sleep and dimensions of psychological health as well as depression. To fill this gap, 502 community residents were surveyed about sleep habits, symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as Ryff's six dimensions of psychological well-being. Using cut-offs suggested by epidemiological research, participants were classified as either optimal sleepers (those reporting an average of 6 hours or less than 8.5 hours per night) or suboptimal sleepers (those sleeping less than 6 hours or 8.5 or more hours per night). After controlling for demographic differences (i.e., sex, age, education, ethnicity, employment status, marital status, presence of children), the Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) suggested that optimal sleepers reported fewer symptoms of depression, and anxiety, and reported higher levels of environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self acceptance. Differences between optimal sleepers and non-optimal sleepers in depressive symptoms, positive relations with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance remained significant when people with mild to moderate symptoms of depression were eliminated from the data set. These results are consistent with a theoretical framework that defines sleep as a resource related to stress management and self-regulation. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA (2) University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA Article History: Registration Date: 29/05/2006 Accepted Date: 23/05/2006 Online Date: 09/08/2006

Prior research has demonstrated a relationship between poor sleep quality with academic and cognitive difficulties. A specific disorder associated with poor academic is Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), a circadian [...]

Objective: In early studies, resilience to trauma was equated with psychological well-being. This study explores the possibility that such resilience is better described as social-behavioral competency and that, in turn, such competency can conceal emotional pain. Method: A university sample of 97 participants, 79 women and 18 men, completed measures of childhood abuse and trauma, resilient characteristics, and sleep dysfunction. The measures of sleep problems could be divided into those tapping psychological well-being (e.g., nightmare frequency) and those reflecting social-behavioral functioning (e.g., measures of the impact of nightmares on waking functioning). Results: Fifty-three participants reported experiencing one or more types of trauma or abuse in childhood. As a group they scored more negatively than those reporting no abuse on measures of sleep dysfunction. Resilient characteristics were only related to measures of social-behavioral functioning, not well-being. Conclusions: The findings are consistent with current conceptualizations of trauma/abuse recovery as involving multiple dimensions of functioning, some of which are more publicly observable than others. Therefore, some apparently resilient individuals may have good social-behavioral competency while still experiencing psychological pain. Key Words - Resilience, Abuse, Sleep disorders, Trauma.

Assessment and treatment of sleep disorders in children and adolescents requires an interdisciplinary approach of combining general paediatrics, child psychiatry, child neurology and developmental psychology. Assessment methods include adequate history recording, maintenance of a sleep diary and physiological sleep recordings. The treatment approaches include medication, and behavioral and cognitive approaches. Diagnostic and treatment approaches for sleeplessness, parasomnia, and excessive sleepiness are described. The psychological implications of sleep disorders are discussed.

Fibrositis (fibromyalgia) patients were compared with normal controls in terms of electrophysiology (EEG), self-report indicants of awakening, quality of sleep, behaviourally signalled awakenings, and Symptom Check List 90R (SCL-90R) scores. The results differentiated fibrositis patients from normal controls in terms of SCL-90R scores, with fibrositis patients showing significantly more psychopathology. Fibrositis patients had more alpha EEG sleep and less REM and Stage 1 sleep. They were better able to recall their behaviourally signalled awakenings the following morning and reported qualitatively less satisfying sleep than the normal controls. The alpha EEG sleep anomaly may reflect a vigilant arousal state during nocturnal sleep and result in the daytime experience of unrefreshing sleep, psychologic distress, that re-enforces the perpetuation of the sleep-related symptoms.

Scores on the Sleep Disturbance Ascribed to Worry Scale were correlated with total scores on the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale and subscale scores. A significant negative correlation of -.22 (p < .01) was found between the sleep disturbance scores and scores on the humor production subscale. Research is required to replicate and extend these findings.