Attachment and sleep: A dyadic intensive longitudinal actigraphy study

Abstract

Attachment and sleep are linked across the lifespan, but attachment regulation of sleep among couples is understudied. This study aimed to replicate and extend prior research by testing whether romantic partners’ attachment orientations interacted to predict sleep, assessed via self-report and actigraphy over 14 days. Participants ( N = 208 couples) completed measures of attachment anxiety and avoidance and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. They also wore actigraphy monitors to assess nightly sleep quality and duration. Anxious people self-reported worse sleep quality, replicating two prior studies. In contrast to previous studies, anxious and low-avoidant people slept significantly worse with avoidant partners, while avoidant people slept somewhat better with avoidant partners. Results indicted dyadic regulation of several sleep outcomes and provided new insights regarding how partner avoidance can exacerbate or buffer sleep quality.

Sleep efficiency and naturalistically-observed social behavior following marital separation: The critical role of contact with an ex-partner

“…We also observed that people reporting greater attachment anxiety had lower sleep efficiency, which is consistent with prior findings reported in the literature (Haydon & Moss, 2021; Troxel & Germain, 2011). Attachment anxiety is associated with a range of negative health outcomes (McWilliams & Bailey, 2010).…”

“…Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance are both associated with a more pernicious course of recovery after marital separation (Bourassa, Hasselmo et al, 2019; Lee et al, 2011). Recent work also finds that attachment insecurity is associated with greater sleep disturbance (Adams & McWilliams, 2015; Haydon & Moss, 2021), although most of this work focuses on self-reported sleep disturbances. In the current report, we examine the idea that time spent with an ex-partner is most highly associated with sleep disturbances for people high in attachment anxiety (who engage in hyperactivating emotion regulatory strategies that may amplify emotional distress after interactions with an ex-partner) and/or avoidance (who engage in suppressive, or deactivating, emotion regulatory strategies that are cognitively and physiologically effortful).…”

A Prospective Study of Mental Health, Well-Being, and Substance Use During the Initial COVID-19 Pandemic Surge

“…Participants were drawn from an existing study of interpersonal stress and sleep conducted in western Massachusetts, United States (Haydon & Moss, 2021). The recruitment region comprises urban, suburban, and rural communities.…”

Relationship stress, arguments, and sleep quality: A causal process analysis

“…Attachment anxiety is consistently associated with worse self-reported sleep quality (Carmichael & Reis, 2005; Kent de Grey et al, 2019; Xie et al, 2022). In our own prior work with the current sample, attachment anxiety was associated with worse self-reported sleep but was not associated with several actigraphy-based measures (Haydon & Moss, 2021). Main effects of attachment avoidance on sleep have been mixed (Adams et al, 2014); some studies have found significant associations between avoidance and sleep quality (Gur-Yaish et al, 2020) while others have not (Carmichael & Reis, 2005).…”

“…Main effects of attachment avoidance on sleep have been mixed (Adams et al, 2014); some studies have found significant associations between avoidance and sleep quality (Gur-Yaish et al, 2020) while others have not (Carmichael & Reis, 2005). Additionally, sleep quality depends on within-person interactions of avoidance and anxiety (Xie et al, 2022) as well as concordance of romantic partners’ attachment orientations (Haydon & Moss, 2021; Kent de Grey et al, 2019). With respect to attachment as a moderator of sleep processes, Hicks and Diamond (2011) found that links between poor self-reported sleep quality and subsequent conflict were stronger for highly anxious (versus highly avoidant) people.…”