Objective. To date, no studies have directly examined the effects of cognitive trait hostility on prospectively assessed sleep quality. This is important as individuals with heightened trait hostility demonstrate similar patterns of reactivity to perceived stressors as is often reported by poor sleepers. The present study hypothesized that increased trait hostility is associated with poorer subjective sleep quality and that perceived stress mediates this relationship. Methods. A sample of 66 normal sleepers completed daily sleep and stress logs for two weeks. Trait hostility was measured retrospectively. Results. The cognitive dimension of trait hostility was significantly correlated with subjectively rated sleep quality indicators, and these relationships were significantly mediated by perceived daily stress. Individuals with higher levels of trait cognitive hostility reported increased levels of perceived stress which accounted for their poorer sleep ratings as measured by both retrospective and prospective measures. Conclusions. Overall, the findings indicate that high levels of cognitive hostility are a significant risk factor for disturbed sleep and suggest that this might be a fruitful target for clinical intervention. 1. Introduction The relationship between trait hostility and sleep quality remains underexplored despite the empirical indications that individuals with increased hostility experience more stress, a factor known to degrade sleep quality [1–4]. Despite its widespread use as an outcome variable, there is no standard definition for sleep quality. Investigators frequently use both objective measures, such as total sleep duration, efficiency, and sleep onset latency, as well as subjective self-report measures to assess sleep quality [5]. While a number of variables can influence one’s day-to-day sleep outcomes, stress is strongly associated with sleep disruption [1, 6]. Stress is thought to act on sleep primarily via increased cognitive and somatic arousal during the presleep period [7]. In a recent study, Morin et al. [6] confirmed that hyperarousal during the presleep period mediates the relationship between stress and sleep quality in normal and disordered sleepers alike. The study suggests that individual variation in stress reactivity determines the extent to which stress degrades sleep quality. Consistent with this finding, studies have demonstrated that poor sleepers are characteristically hyperreactive to stress [1, 2, 6, 8]. Pronounced stress reactions are characteristic of individuals who score highly on measures of trait
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