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Sleep Disturbances and Delayed Sleep Timing are Associated with Greater Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Youth Following Hurricane Harvey

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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.

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Funding

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Montana State University, 319 Traphagen Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

    Cara A. Palmer & Dagny Deutchman

  2. Psychology Neurosciences Department, Maastricht University, 6229 ER, Maastricht, Netherlands

    Alexis Bahn

  3. School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Joanne L. Bower

  4. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Carl F. Weems

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Candice A. Alfano

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  1. Cara A. Palmer
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  5. Carl F. Weems
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  6. Candice A. Alfano
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Correspondence to Cara A. Palmer.

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Palmer, C.A., Bahn, A., Deutchman, D. et al. Sleep Disturbances and Delayed Sleep Timing are Associated with Greater Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Youth Following Hurricane Harvey. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 54, 1534–1545 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01359-y

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