Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Association Between Sleep Quality and Cognitive Symptoms in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder
Published on: April 26, 2024
Sleep problems, tiredness, and psychological symptoms among healthy adolescents
J Aimée Coulombe1, Graham J Reid, Michael H Boyle
1Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
Objective:
To examine the contribution of adolescents' sleep problems and tiredness to psychological symptoms after accounting for shared risk and psychological co-morbidity.
Methods:
Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data on 12-16-year-old (N = 980) adolescents without chronic illness, functional limitation, or developmental delay. Adolescents rated sleep problems, tiredness, and psychological symptoms. Parents provided information about risk factors, adolescent tiredness, and psychological symptoms.
Results:
Prior to accounting for psychological co-morbidity, most sleep variables were significant correlates of adolescent-, but not parent-rated, psychological symptoms. After accounting for psychological co-morbidity: nightmares were associated with adolescent-rated anxiety/depression; sleeping more than others was associated with adolescent-rated aggression; trouble sleeping was associated with adolescent-rated attention problems, anxiety/depression, and withdrawal; and adolescent-rated tiredness was associated with adolescent-rated aggression and withdrawal.
Conclusions:
Studies examining sleep and psychopathology should control for psychological co-morbidity.
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