Adverse Childhood Experiences and Poor Sleep Quality in Older Adults: The Influence of Emotion Regulation

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with sleep impairment across the life span, but little is known about modifiable factors that may ameliorate this relationship, such as adaptive emotion regulation (ER) skills. Methods Data were obtained from an online questionnaire completed by a community sample of older adults (N = 278). The questionnaire included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, an Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and measures of health conditions, and other sample demographics. Moderation analyses were used to examine the interaction between ACEs and 5 adaptive ER skills of CERQ on sleep quality in older adults, while accounting for the effects of age, sex, income, body mass index, and health. Results ACEs were significantly associated with worse sleep quality in older adults, and this effect was moderated by positive reappraisal and refocusing on planning (all ps < .05). For individuals reporting greater use of these ER skills, ACEs had no effect on sleep quality, whereas for individuals reporting less frequent use of these ER skills, ACEs were associated with substantially worse sleep quality. This relationship remained significant after accounting for age, sex, income, body mass index, and health conditions in the model. Conclusions The effects of ACEs on sleep quality persist into older age; however, greater use of ER skills that focus on positively reframing negative events and identifying strategies for coping protect against sleep impairment in individuals with higher ACEs.

Automated summary

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with sleep impairment, but little is known about modifiable factors that may ameliorate this relationship, such as adaptive emotion regulation (ER) skills. The study found that positive reappraisal and refocusing on planning, two types of ER skills, moderated the relationship between ACEs and sleep quality in older adults.