Sleeping with one eye open: marital abuse as an antecedent of poor sleep

In a diverse community sample of 241 married couples, we examined received psychological abuse (PA) as a longitudinal predictor of men's and women's sleep. Participants reported on marital functioning and mental health during three assessments (T1, T2, T3) and sleep problems during two assessments (T2, T3), with 1-year lags between waves. Growth curve analyses revealed that for both spouses, higher initial levels of PA and increases in PA over time predicted greater sleep disturbances at T3. For husbands and wives, anxiety and depression mediated some of the associations between PA and sleep problems. For wives, moderation effects highlighted the importance of violence, anxiety, and depression in exacerbating sleep problems associated with PA. Results build on and contribute significantly to the scant literature implicating the importance of the marital relationship for sleep and suggest that simultaneous consideration of intrapersonal and interpersonal variables is critical when explicating sleep disruptions.