0324 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY DOMAINS, NIGHTMARES, AND SLEEP QUALITY

Abstract

Results: Insomnia symptoms were associated with cognitive impairment in unadjusted models, however these effects were reversed after full adjustment, leaving those with frequent insomnia symptoms showing statistically better cognitive performance over those without (for reasoning, reaction time, visual memory and prospective memory). Relative to intermediate chronotype, evening chronotype was associated with superior task performance, while morning chronotype was associated with the poorest performance. Sleep medication use and both long (>9hrs) and short (<7hrs) sleep duration were associated with impaired performance. Conclusion: Our results suggest that frequent insomnia symptoms are not reliably associated with cognitive impairment at the population level after adjustment for relevant confounding variables. Further work is required to examine mechanistic underpinnings of an apparent evening chronotype advantage in cognitive performance, as well as impairment associated with morning chronotype, sleep medication use, and sleep duration extremes. Introduction: Previous research suggests certain personality traits (e.g., neuroticism) and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions may perpetuate sleep difficulties, but few studies have examined this relationship. The current study examines personality domains as predictors of sleep quality and nightmare severity, frequency, and intensity in a college sample. Methods: Participants were 348 undergraduate students (64% female; M age = 20.17 [SD=2.77]) from a large university in Texas (U.S.) who were administered an online questionnaire battery including the Disturbing Dreams and Nightmare Severity Index (DDNSI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PQSI), and Big Five Inventory (BFI) of personality traits. Two multiple regressions were conducted in order to determine if personality traits predicted nightmare symptoms and overall sleep quality/insomnia. Results: The omnibus regression for personality factors predicting DDSNI was significant, F(5, 342) = 12.75, p < .001, R2 = .16. Higher levels of Neuroticism (β = 0.35, p < .001) and Openness (β = 0.21, p < .001) significantly predicted greater nightmare symptoms. The omnibus regression for personality factors predicting PSQI was significant, F(5, 342) = 13.66, p < .001, R2 = .15. Higher levels of Neuroticism (β = 0.27, p