A person-centered analysis of sleep and emotion dysregulation: Short- and long-term links with depression and alcohol use

Abstract

Objective: Our objective was to examine the co-occurrence of sleep problems and emotion dysregulation and its short- and long-term links to depressive symptoms and alcohol use in a sample of university students. Method: Participants included 1132 first-year university students from Southern Ontario (70.5% women). Time 1 data were collected in February/March, 2010, and Time 2 data (n = 746) were collected in February/March, 2014. Participants were surveyed about sleep problems and emotion dysregulation (Time 1), and depressive symptoms and alcohol use (Times 1 and 2). Results: A latent class analysis revealed four groups: (1) Low Co-Occurrence, (2) Sleep Problems Only, (3) Emotion Dysregulation Only, and (4) High Co-occurrence. Group 4 had more depressive symptoms than all other groups in both the short- and long-term. Conclusions: First year university students with high co-occurrence of sleep problems and emotion dysregulation may be a target group for programs focused on reducing adjustment difficulties.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• mental health
• sleep

Acknowledgments

This work was presented as a poster at the 2016 Biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA).

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to acknowledge funding for this longitudinal project from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada to Teena Willoughby.