Is there an association between insomnia symptoms, aggressive behavior, and suicidality in adolescents?

Abstract

PurposeSleep disturbances are a common problem during adolescence. Often there is a relationship with the mental health of the affected person. The existing literature concerning the link between sleep disturbances and aggressive behavior and sleep disturbances and suicidality during adolescence shows no clear results. The present study tested a mediation model to prove the relation between sleep problems, aggressive behavior, and suicidality during adolescence. To take the link between suicidality and depression into account, the amount of depressive symptoms was included into the mediation model.MethodsA sample of 93 adolescents aged 14–18 years (30% male) was studied. A survey was conducted to interview the adolescents about their mental health, sleep-related behaviors, aggressive behavior, and suicidality.ResultsSleep problems and suicidality measures were significantly related to each other. Furthermore, aggressive behavior and suicidality showed a significant relationship. The expected link between sleep problems and aggressive behavior was not significant. For the mediation model, no significant influence of aggressive behavior on the relationship between the amount of sleep problems and suicidality was found. However, the impact of depressive symptoms on the relationship between sleep problems and suicidality was significant.ConclusionSleep problems and overall suicidality in adolescents are significantly connected, even after adjusting for several possible influencing factors. Aggressive behavior could not be confirmed as a mediator for the association between sleep problems and suicidality in adolescents. Further studies to examine the link between insomnia symptoms, aggressive behavior, and suicidality in adolescents are necessary.

Sleep problems in university students – an intervention

“…19 This relationship between sleep problems and suicidality persisted when taking aggressive behavior and depression into account. 20 Correspondingly, nightmares were significantly related to suicidal ideation even after controlling for depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. 21 Students who suffered from nightmares often reported more insomnia symptoms and lower self-efficacy.…”

Nightmares as predictors of suicide: an extension study including war veterans

“…However, most studies report a significant link between nightmares and either suicidal thoughts as measured by questionnaires or suicide attempts. In addition to nightmares, disturbed sleep in general and insomnia in particular increase the risk for suicidality 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 .…”

Sleep as a mediator in the context of emotional problems in adolescents with IBD: A pilot study

“…In our study, nightmares played a prominent role based on self-report as well as regarding mediation. As previous studies reported, the occurrence of nightmares has a negative impact on daily wellbeing in regard to cognitive, emotional, motivational, as well as physiological aspects [20,73,77]. Moreover, nightmares come along with inferior school performance and further sleep problems (i.e., poor sleep quality, prolonged sleep latency) [12,78].…”

“…Sleep problems in youths tend to become chronic with the risk of reaching into adulthood [13][14][15][16][17]. Daytime impairments of sleep disturbances in adolescence vary from academic impairments and impaired quality of life to behavioral concerns such as aggression, depression, and suicidality [17][18][19][20]. On the other hand, sleep disturbances in adolescents have found to be correlated with fatigue, somatic symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain, backache, and poor health in general [12,[21][22][23][24].…”