(PS3-53) Depression as a Moderator of the Effects of Total Sleep Time on Everyday Social Processes

Background: It is well known that sleep impacts functioning across psychological domains, but research examining the effect of sleep on social processes is still in its early stages. In one of the few studies of sleep and social behavior, Dickinson and McElry (2017) showed that sleep restriction can influence trust, trustworthiness, and prosocial behaviors. There is research that people high in depression are particularly sensitive to the impacts of poor sleep (Nyer et al., 2013). Though depression has been shown to disrupt both sleep and social processes (Tsuno et al, 2005; Gordon et al., 2017), no studies to date have examined whether depression moderates the impact of sleep loss on social behaviors.  In the present study, we tested the moderating effect of depression on the within-person association between objectively assessed total sleep time and prosocial behavior, social bonding, and social need.

Methods: We assessed 112 adults from the District of Columbia area in a two-week daily diary study. At baseline, participants completed the CES-D depression scale (Radloff, 1977). Participants underwent nightly objective sleep monitoring via actigraphy watch and completed daily surveys assessing their prosocial behavior, social bonding, and social need. 

Results and Conclusion: Using multi-level mixed model regression, we found a significant interaction between baseline depression and total sleep-time (TST) in predicting self-reported daily pro-social behaviors and daily social bonding.  Specifically, for highly depressed individuals, less total sleep time predicted greater pro-social behavior and social bonding the following day. For those low in depression, the opposite was true; less total sleep time was associated with less pro-social behavior and social bonding. Our findings suggest that sleep loss does not have a homogenous effect on social processes and that individual-level moderators are essential components in understanding the relationship between sleep and social functioning. It is possible that depressed individuals experience an increase in social orientation when sleep-deprived, though further research is needed.