The role of pubertal status and sleep satisfaction in emotion reactivity and regulation in children and adolescents

STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the role of pubertal status and hormones in the association between sleep satisfaction and self-reported emotion functioning in 256 children and adolescents aged 8–15. METHODS: Self-report data was provided on sleep duration, sleep satisfaction, and emotion reactivity and regulation, and a saliva sample was obtained for hormone measures. A subset of children also wore an Actigraph watch to measure sleep for a week. RESULTS: Latent-class analysis revealed three classes of sleepers: Satisfied, Moderately Satisfied, and Dissatisfied. Dissatisfied sleepers reported more difficulties with emotion regulation and greater emotion reactivity than Satisfied sleepers. High difficulties with emotion regulation was associated with shorter objective sleep duration, and high emotion reactivity was associated with lower sleep efficiency. For girls, Dissatisfied sleepers reported being further through pubertal development than Satisfied sleepers. There were also significant correlations between pubertal development and shorter sleep duration and longer sleep latency in girls, and shorter and more irregular sleep in boys. Finally, pubertal development in girls was a significant moderator in the relationship between sleep satisfaction and difficulties with emotion regulation in Dissatisfied sleepers, such that being further through puberty and having unsatisfactory sleep resulted in the highest emotion regulation difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: This study expands on previous literature by considering the role of sleep satisfaction and the interaction with puberty development on emotion function. Specifically, a role for pubertal development was identified in the association between unsatisfactory sleep and emotion regulation in girls.