Tired, angry, and unhappy with us: Poor sleep quality predicts increased anger and worsened perceptions of relationship quality

Abstract

Existing research demonstrates that poor sleep is associated with lower perceptions of relationship quality. Poor sleep also predicts more intense experiences of negative affect, anger in particular. Greater anger is also tied to worse relationship outcomes. The current research explored the interplay among these factors across three studies: one correlational, one longitudinal, and one quasi-experiment (Total N = 695). We hypothesized that poorer sleep quality would predict worsened perceived relationship quality and increased anger. We also hypothesized that increased anger would account for the association between poorer sleep and reduced perceived relationship quality. Our hypotheses were supported.

Sleep disturbance as a precursor to anxiety, depression, and PTSD among rural Kenyans: A cross‐lagged panel analysis from a rural Kenyan interventional cohort

“…Similar to patterns identified elsewhere (e.g. Audigier et al, 2023;Franzen & Buysse, 2008;Freeman et al, 2020;Hertenstein et al, 2019;Shalev et al, 2017), sleep disturbance predicted more symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and less social support after 11 weeks of follow-up.…”

“…novel study investigated temporal relationships between sleep disturbance, mental health and social well-being in a general population within Meru County, Kenya. Similar to patterns identified elsewhere (e.g.Franzen & Buysse, 2022;Hertenstein et al, 2019;Freeman et al, 2020;Shalev, Liberzon, & Marmar, 2017;Audigier et al, 2023), sleep disturbance predicted more symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and less social support after 11 weeks of follow-up.By contrast, and unexpected by us, sleep disturbance was not predicted by any previous primary measure (i.e., anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, or social support) when we adjusted for socioeconomic status variables. These findings suggest that sleep quality is fundamental to mental health and social functioning serving as a precedent rather than an outcome.…”

“…Within mostly cross-sectional data, social correlates of poor sleep include increased physiological sensitivity to social-evaluative tasks, worse identification of social cues and social isolation, relationship strain, intimate partner violence victimization, and smaller social networks (Gordon, Carrillo, & Barnes, 2021). While there are few longitudinal studies assessing potential bidirectionality between social relationships and poor sleep quality, poor sleep has been shown to predict feelings of anger and worsened perceived relationship quality (Audigier, Glass, Slotter, & Pantesco, 2023).…”

Sleep disturbance as a precursor to anxiety, depression, and PTSD among rural Kenyans: a cross-lagged panel analysis from a rural Kenyan interventional cohort

“…Similar to patterns identified elsewhere (e.g. Franzen & Buysse, 2022; Hertenstein et al, 2019; Freeman et al, 2020; Shalev, Liberzon, & Marmar, 2017; Audigier et al, 2023), sleep disturbance predicted more symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and less social support after 11 weeks of follow-up.…”