Scott, A.J. orcid.org/0000-0001-7426-7099, Rowse, G. and Webb, T.L. orcid.org/0000-0001-9320-0068 (2017) A structural equation model of the relationship between insomnia, negative affect, and paranoid thinking. PLoS One, 12 (10). e0186233.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence points to relationships between insomnia, negative affect, and paranoid thinking. However, studies are needed to examine (i) whether negative affect mediates the relation between insomnia and paranoid thinking, (ii) whether different types of insomnia exert different effects on paranoia, and (iii) to compare the impact of objective and self-reported sleeping difficulties. METHOD: Structural equation modelling was therefore used to test competing models of the relationships between self-reported insomnia, negative affect, and paranoia. n = 348 participants completed measures of insomnia, negative affect and paranoia. A subset of these participants (n = 91) went on to monitor their sleep objectively (using a portable sleep monitor made by Zeo) for seven consecutive nights. Associations between objectively recorded sleep, negative affect, and paranoia were explored using linear regression. RESULTS: The findings supported a fully mediated model where self-reported delayed sleep onset, but not self-reported problems with sleep maintenance or objective measures of sleep, was directly associated with negative affect that, in turn, was associated with paranoia. There was no evidence of a direct association between delayed sleep onset or sleep maintenance problems and paranoia. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the findings point to an association between perceived (but not objective) difficulties initially falling asleep (but not maintaining sleep) and paranoid thinking; a relationship that is fully mediated by negative affect. Future research should seek to disentangle the causal relationships between sleep, negative affect, and paranoia (e.g., by examining the effect of an intervention using prospective designs that incorporate experience sampling). Indeed, interventions might profitably target (i) perceived sleep quality, (ii) sleep onset, and / or (iii) emotion regulation as a route to reducing negative affect and, thus, paranoid thinking.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Scott et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Oct 2017 11:37 |
Last Modified: | 27 Nov 2017 09:22 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186233 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0186233 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:123066 |