Abstract
The objective of the present study is to examine whether a relationship exists between disturbed sleep and aggression in 19 male prisoners with a psychotic illness, incarcerated in the Penitentiary Psychiatric Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The sleep–wake rhythm was indirectly assessed by means of actigraphy. The results show that nocturnal restlessness was a significant predictor of aggression/agitation with a large effect size (R2 = .639, adjusted R2 = .536). It was concluded that future research should focus on nocturnal restlessness as a possible cause of aggression in this population.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Jesse Meijers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7607-2321