Authors

Suzanne Riela

Type

Text

Type

Dissertation

Advisor

Aron, Arthur P. | Moyer, Anne | Franklin, Nancy | Connell, Paul.

Date

2011-08-01

Keywords

interpersonal relationships, intimacy, sleep deprivation, stress | Social psychology

Department

Department of Social/Health Psychology

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/71038

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

Close relationships are integral to who we are; they influence our sense of self (Berscheid, 1994), emotional well-being (Deci et al. | 2006), and physical health (Cohen, 2004). However, close relationships are not immune to external stressors. One stressor that has been understudied with respect to close relationships is sleep loss (Troxel et al. | 2007). Sleep loss is common in the general population (National Sleep Foundation, 2008), and pervasive in that it leads to psychomotor, affective, and cognitive deficits (Pilcher & Huffcutt, 1996). The present research investigated whether sleep loss hindered individual and interpersonal functioning. Participants were healthy undergraduate students who were in established romantic relationships of one year or longer. Sleep loss was experimentally manipulated such that participants experienced either a full night of sleep in their own homes or sleep deprivation in the laboratory. Affective, cognitive, and relationship measures were administered before and after the sleep manipulation. As expected, total sleep deprivation led to increased sleepiness and negative mood, as well as decreased self-reported sociability. In addition, sleep condition emerged as a significant moderator of closeness and interdependence when considering gender, relationship length, and attachment. These findings indicate that sleep loss does have a negative impact on close relationships, and this research is an important step in evaluating the proposed theoretical model. | 57 pages

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.