Sleep valuation, the worth individuals place on sleep, is an understudied construct in the field of sleep medicine. This study introduced a Sleep Valuation Item Bank and explored how sleep valuation is related to sleep health and daytime functioning within a sample of college students. The participants in this study were 247 (85% white, 83% female) undergraduate students who completed an online survey that included questions from a Sleep Valuation Item Bank and questions about sleep and daytime functioning. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to determine associations between sleep valuation, aspects of sleep health and daytime functioning. Mediation analyses were conducted to determine whether the sleep health variables explained the associations between sleep valuation and daytime functioning. In correlation analyses, sleep valuation was negatively associated with sleepiness and sleep quality. It was also associated with daytime functioning, including general mental and physical health, depression, and anxiety. In the regression analyses, daytime impairments including poorer physical and mental health, anxiety, and depression were associated with higher sleep valuation. Poorer sleep health, including greater sleepiness and lower sleep quality, explained these associations and were associated with higher sleep valuation. Thus, while daytime impairments, such as anxiety and depression, are related to sleep valuation, this relationship may be due in part to the sleep disturbance that often co-occurs with these impairments.

The current study integrates previous research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and long-term health outcomes to examine associations between ACEs, sleep duration, and depression in a diverse, mostly healthy, sample of young adults. We examine whether sleep duration mediates the association between ACEs and depression among young adults, and whether ethnicity may moderate observed relationships between ACEs, sleep duration and depression. Data were collected from 518 young adults (66.8% female, M_age=19.79 years, SD_age=3.43 years) enrolled in undergraduate Psychology courses at a large Southwestern university. Participants primarily reported their racial/ethnic background as Non-Hispanic White (60.6%) and Hispanic/Latino (25.1%). Participants self-reported their ACEs exposure, sleep characteristics, and depressive symptoms. In addition to calculating overall exposure to ACEs, scores for the specific dimensions of adversity were also calculated (Abuse, Neglect, Exposure to Violence). Results supported a mediation model whereby higher reports of ACEs were associated with depressive symptoms both directly and through sleep duration. Results were not moderated by ethnicity. Findings provide support for sleep duration as one potential pathway through which ACEs may be associated with depressive symptoms in young adulthood, and suggest that this pathway is similar in Hispanic and non-Hispanic young adults.

Objective: Vagus nerve functioning, as indexed by high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), has been implicated in a wide range of mental and physical health conditions, including sleep complaints. This study aimed to test associations between HF-HRV measured during sleep (sleep HF-HRV) and subjective sleep complaints 4 years later. Methods: One hundred forty-three healthy employees (91% male; M _Age = 47.8 years [time 2], SD = 8.3 years) of an industrial company in Southern Germany completed the Jenkins Sleep Problems Scale, participated in a voluntary health assessment, and were given a 24-hour ambulatory heart rate recording device in 2007. Employees returned for a health assessment and completed the Jenkins Sleep Problems Scale 4 years later. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that lower sleep HF-HRV measured in 2007 was associated with higher self-reported sleep complaints 4 years later after controlling for covariates ( r _ab,c = −0.096, b = −0.108, 95% CI, −0.298 to 0.081, Δ R ² = 0.009, p = .050). Conclusions: These data are the first to show that lower sleep HF-HRV predicted worse sleep 4 years later, highlighting the importance of vagus nerve functioning in adaptability and health.

Adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse and neglect, are associated with poor health outcomes. This association may be partially explained by differences in stress physiology. Though most early adverse experiences occur within the context of interpersonal relationships, stress exposures manipulated in the laboratory rarely involve interpersonal interactions beyond the mere presence of others. This study examines whether adverse childhood experiences are associated with differences in affective and cortisol reactivity to two stressors which may more closely resemble the powerlessness and the lack of control characteristic of many adverse childhood experiences: a dominant (vs. submissive) interaction partner and lower (vs. higher) social status. We also manipulate social-evaluative threat as a test of whether these interpersonal stressors are more germane to stress reactivity associated with early adversity than the performance anxiety evoked by more traditional laboratory stressors, such as the Trier Social Stress Test. The results partially support the hypothesis that participants with greater early adversity may be more reactive to interpersonal stressors reminiscent of early adverse experience. Given the interpersonal nature of most adverse childhood experiences, conceptualizing and measuring associations with stress physiology in an interpersonal context may more closely capture the psychological and biological embedding of these early experiences.

Growing up in a family environment characterized by neglectful parenting, overt conflict, and unsupportive relationships is associated with poor health in adulthood. A risky early family environment may also be associated with obesity in adulthood, likely through the activation of the HPA axis. Likewise, the GABAergic (gamma-aminobutyric acid) T>C single nucleotide polymorphism in the 1519 nucleotide position of the GABAAα6 receptor subunit gene has been associated with a predisposition to a higher body mass index and a larger waist circumference. Participants (n = 213, M_age = 30.13 years, SD = 10.85; 57.7% men) from the Pittsburgh Cold Study 3 completed a demographic questionnaire, the Risky Families Questionnaire (RFQ) and had their height, weight, and waist circumference measured during a physical exam. Participant DNA was recovered from buccal swabs and genotyped for the various allelic types of the SNP according to published protocols. In secondary data analyses, we tested the hypothesis that early family environment and GABRA6 would be positively associated with body mass index and waist circumference. We also examined diurnal cortisol as a mechanism linking both early risky family environment and GABRA6 to metabolic outcomes. The findings provide evidence that a risky early family environment may exert more influence than genetic predisposition when determining the indices of metabolic health in adulthood.