Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
893205 Personality and Individual Differences 2007 12 Pages PDF
Abstract

Previous research suggests an association between rumination and poor sleep quality. This study sought to clarify the direction of this association by inducing rumination about a negative event in the pre-sleep period and assessing self-reported sleep quality. On the evening following a stressful event (a mid-session exam), high (N = 59) and low (N = 55) trait ruminator undergraduate students were assigned to a pre-sleep rumination or distraction condition. Participants completed ratings of pre-sleep intrusive thoughts about the mid-session exam and sleep quality. As expected, high-trait ruminators experienced more pre-sleep intrusive thoughts and poorer sleep quality. Results confirmed that the instruction to ruminate had a particularly detrimental effect on sleep quality for high-trait ruminators compared to low-trait ruminators. Our findings confirm that rumination in the pre-sleep period following a stressful event has a negative impact on sleep quality for individuals with a trait tendency to ruminate. Suggestions are made for future research to investigate the interplay of rumination and stressful life events.

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