Associations among sleep, daily experiences, and loneliness in adolescence: Evidence of moderating and bidirectional pathways

The present study examined the dynamic associations among daily stress levels, affect, and objective sleep quality in adolescence. We also explored loneliness as a potential moderator of these associations. Seventy-eight adolescents participated over three days. They completed diary reports of stressful experiences and affect five times a day while wearing an actigraph to obtain objective measurement of sleep. They also provided self-reports of loneliness. High daily stress was associated with shorter sleep duration. Models testing bidirectional associations indicated that prior day stress was associated with shorter sleep duration, but poor sleep duration and sleep efficiency were also associated with greater stress the next day. Loneliness was a significant moderator of the associations between daily stress and sleep duration and latency such that lonely individuals had shorter sleep durations and sleep latencies after particularly stressful days. Results suggest daily dynamic associations among loneliness, daily stress, and objective measures of adolescent sleep.