Neuroticism and Sleep-related Problems in Adolescence

Study Objective: To examine the relationship between neurotic personality characteristics and sleep habits/problems.

Design: A population-based cross-sectional study.

Setting: NA.

Participants: Nine hundred sixty five students from two junior high schools in Taipei and their parents were randomly selected in December 1993 for inclusion in the study. The response rate was 96.4% (930) for students and 88.6% (855) for parents.

Interventions: NA.

Measurements And Results: Students were administered a sleep habit questionnaire and the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory (JEPI) at both junior high schools in Taipei. For the JEPI, high and low neuroticism was operationally defined as scores that were one or more standard deviation above or below the sample mean, respectively. This yielded two extreme groups: high neuroticism group (n=183) and low neuroticism group (n=163). The high neuroticism group went to bed later and slept less than did the low neuroticism group. Using logistic regression, adjusting for sex and years at junior high school, the high neuroticism group had significantly different sleep habits and school performance from the low neuroticism group. Subjects in the high neuroticism group had significant risk of feelings of sleep insufficiency, tiredness, moodiness, and difficulty waking up in the morning; they also had more daytime sleepiness than did those in the low neuroticism group. The high neuroticism group also suffered from more sleep-related problems than did the low neuroticism group.

Conclusions: The findings support the hypothesis that a high neuroticism score is associated with going to bed late on school days, short sleep duration, different sleep habits, sleep problems, and impaired daytime function in comparison with a low neuroticism score.