Associations between neuroticism, subjective sleep quality, and depressive symptoms across the first year of college

Abstract

Objective

Examine neuroticism’s impact on the relationship between depressive symptoms and sleep quality during the college transition.

Participants

First-year students (N = 302) from a southeastern university in the USA.

Methods

A longitudinal cross-lagged panel model assessed direct and indirect effects between self-reported sleep and depressed mood.

Results

Higher neuroticism was directly associated with both greater depressed mood and sleep quality. Poorer sleep quality was associated with depressive symptoms at baseline (β = 0.250, [95% CI = 0.123,0.362]) and during spring semester (β = 0.261, [95% CI = 0.126,0.383]). Baseline depressive symptoms predicted sleep quality during fall semester (β = 0.140, [95% CI = 0.031, 0.247]), and fall semester sleep quality predicted spring semester depression symptoms (β = 0.106, [95% CI = 0.007,0.201]).

Discussion

Neuroticism is an indicator of emotional distress and disrupted sleep upon college entry. Furthermore, there was evidence for both within time-point and prospective associations between sleep quality and depression symptoms albeit at different times throughout the first year of college.

Keywords:

• college
• depressed mood
• neuroticism
• sleep quality

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Emory University (IRB IRB00090295).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, RP. The data are not publicly available due to (1) the study is still ongoing, (2) data use restriction of the MAPme Project, (3) the need to maintain the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Funding

The MAPme Project 2018 Cohort is supported in part by a grant from the Giles Robertson Foundation awarded to the Department of Psychology at Emory University. Dr. Palmer is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (DP1DA042103). Neither organization played a role in the design of the study.