Sleep disturbances and delayed sleep timing are associated with greater post-traumatic stress symptoms in youth following Hurricane Harvey

Palmer, Cara A., Bahn, Alexis, Deutchman, Dagny, Bower, Joanne L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3485-391X, Weems, Carl F. and Alfano, Candice A. (2023) Sleep disturbances and delayed sleep timing are associated with greater post-traumatic stress symptoms in youth following Hurricane Harvey. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 54 (6). 1534–1545. ISSN 0009-398X

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Abstract

Sleep patterns following a natural disaster are associated with mental health difficulties, but research in youth samples has been limited to subjective reports of sleep. Participants (N = 68, 8–17 years old) completed an assessment 6–9 months after Hurricane Harvey, which included subjective measures of sleep, chronotype, hurricane-related post-traumatic stress symptoms, and one week of actigraphy. Prior to the hurricane, parents provided reports on emotional symptoms. Controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status, participation time, and pre-hurricane emotional symptoms, subjective sleep disturbances and an eveningness chronotype were associated with greater post-traumatic stress, with the strongest effects observed for re-experiencing, negative cognitions/mood, and arousal/reactivity symptoms. Later sleep timing as measured by actigraphy was associated with greater arousal/reactivity symptoms and shorter sleep duration was associated with greater avoidance symptoms. As extreme weather-related events are expected to become more frequent and severe, these findings contribute to models of youth risk and resilience.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: This project was funded by a National Science Foundation award (#1813574) to Drs. Palmer (PI) and Alfano (Co-PI) and awards from the National Institute of Mental Health (#R21MH099351; #K23MH081188) to Dr. Alfano.
Uncontrolled Keywords: circadian timing,natural disaster,negative life events,post-traumatic stress,sleep,psychiatry and mental health,developmental and educational psychology,pediatrics, perinatology, and child health,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2738
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 22 Apr 2022 12:30
Last Modified: 28 Oct 2023 01:18
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/84744
DOI: 10.1007/s10578-022-01359-y

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