The links between sleep, self-control, and internalizing/externalizing problems: A meta-analysis

Abstract

The present study tested the direct and indirect relationships between sleep, self-control, internalizing (depression, anxiety, media addiction, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, negative affect, and procrastination) and externalizing problems (media misuse, violence, general crime, and academic problems), thus whether self-control attenuated the direct relationship between sleep and these behaviors; it also tested for moderation effects in these links. Based on 37 studies for internalizing and 16 studies for externalizing problems, with N = 36,487 and N = 32,793 participants, the study used Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling to address methodological limitations of previous bivariate meta-analyses. One Stage Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (OSMASEM) provided evidence that sleep was negatively associated with internalizing problems, both directly and indirectly via self-control (β = −0.17 and β = −0.05, respectively). Sleep was also negatively associated with externalizing problems, again both directly and indirectly via self-control (β = −0.12, and β = −0.04, respectively). Thus, self-control attenuated the relationship between sleep and internalizing as well as externalizing problems. Sleep is directly and indirectly associated with internalizing as well as externalizing problems, and this relationship is only partially attenuated by self-control. Both sleep and self-control are salient when considering preventative and intervention efforts for internalizing and externalizing problems.