Bidirectional Associations between Daily Symptoms of Perfectionism and Poor Sleep: The Mediating Role of Stress

Perfectionism is a risk factor for poor sleep. Past studies have examined the relationship between perfectionism and sleep using summary statistics that do not account for intra-individual day-to-day variability. Using ecological momentary assessment, this study investigated the bidirectional and temporal relationships between perfectionism and sleep, and the mediating effects of stress.

Sixty-three adults (85.7% female, mean age 30.13 ± 10.96 years) were sampled from the Australian general population. Measures collected over 14 days included the Pittsburgh Sleep Diary, Daily Perfectionism Measures, Daily Stress Inventory, the Concerns over Mistakes and Doubts about Actions subscales from the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Socially Prescribed Perfectionism subscale from the Hewitt-Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale.

Perfectionism levels were positively associated with sleep onset variability (p ≤ .04). The relationship between perfectionism and poor sleep was significant at the between-person level in both directions (p ≤ .041), with stress mediating the relationship of sleep predicting next-day perfectionism (p ≤ .042). At the within-person level, stress mediated the relationship, with higher perfectionism leading to higher stress, which then related to lower sleep quality (p ≤ .009). Poorer sleep did not predict next-day perfectionism and was not mediated by stress.

Perfectionism and sleep appear bidirectionally linked. Individuals with higher perfectionism scores were more likely to experience disrupted sleep and vice versa. Changes in perfectionism did not directly impact the same night's sleep, but this relationship was mediated by stress. Therefore, consider the role of perfectionism and stress management when assessing and treating poor sleep.