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Stress, Sleep, and Coping Self-Efficacy in Adolescents

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Abstract

Adults are thought to show a sleep-stress spiral in which greater stress worsens sleep quality, which amplifies stress, which leads to worse sleep. This study examined whether adolescents show a similar spiral, and if so, whether coping self-efficacy—believing one can cope with stress—interrupts the spiral. Temporal dynamics of perceived stress, sleep quality, and coping self-efficacy were tracked in 381 9th graders (49% female, mean age 14.43, age range 14–16) using daily surveys across two school weeks (3184 observations). Though expected associations were evident between individuals, only a unidirectional path was found within individuals from sleep quality to perceived stress via coping self-efficacy. This challenges the conventional bidirectional understanding of sleep-stress relations and suggests coping self-efficacy as an intervention target.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Michael Zyphur for statistical consulting and members of the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory and Sleep Health and Insomnia Program for valuable feedback.

Authors’ Contributions

M.t.B. conceived of the research question, analyzed data, and drafted the manuscript; H.Y.L. collected data, contributed to analyses, and provided critical edits; D.Y. conceived of the research project, wrote the grant, collected data, and provided critical edits; R.M. and J.J.G. contributed to analyses, conceptualization of the manuscript, and provided critical edits. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01HD084772. This research was also supported by grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. M.t.B. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Data Sharing and Declaration

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request from the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin for researchers who agree to terms of data use, including analysis on a secure server and prohibitions against any analysis that risks exposing the identity of participating students (i.e., deductive disclosure). Requests for data should be directed to Elizabeth Johnson at ejohnson@prc.utexas.edu.

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Correspondence to Maia ten Brink.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study with school-age minor human participants received ethical approval from the institutional review board of the University of Texas at Austin and was approved by the research committee of the participant school district and by the participant school principals.

Informed Consent

Data were collected from minors whose parents provided informed written consent and who provided informed written assent for diary response collection.

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ten Brink, M., Lee, H.Y., Manber, R. et al. Stress, Sleep, and Coping Self-Efficacy in Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 50, 485–505 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01337-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01337-4

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