Bidirectional associations between nightly sleep and daily happiness and negative mood in adolescents

Abstract

This study examined bidirectional associations between daily happiness and negative mood and subjective and objective sleep measures. Participants were 311 adolescents (Mage = 17.37 years; 51.8% female; 59.2% White/European American, 38.6% Black/African American, 1% Hispanic/Latinx American, 1.4% multi-racial; 19.3% below poverty line) observed over a 7-day period (2017–2018) using sleep diaries and actigraphy. Daily negative mood was related to greater subjective sleep/wake problems, and happiness was related to lower subjective sleep/wake problems. Conversely, shorter self-reported sleep duration was related to higher negative mood the next day. For actigraphy measures, daily negative mood was related to greater sleep duration and efficiency, whereas happiness was related to lower sleep efficiency. Differences in associations based on subjective versus objective sleep measures are discussed.