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Assessing sleep‐related attitudes with the implicit association test: A prospective study in young adults
Author(s) -
Peuters Carmen,
Cummins Jamie,
Vandendriessche Ann,
DeSmet Ann,
Crombez Geert
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.13536
Subject(s) - psychology , sleep (system call) , sleep hygiene , association (psychology) , implicit association test , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , sleep quality , cognition , psychiatry , computer science , operating system , psychotherapist
The measurement of automatic attitudes towards sleep, in addition to reflective self‐reports, might improve our ability to predict and explain sleep‐hindering practices. Two types of implicit association tests (IATs), a sleep‐related evaluations IAT and a sleep‐related self‐identity IAT, were developed to evaluate their efficacy for assessing automatic sleep‐related attitudes. In addition, a speeded self‐report measure of sleep evaluations was explored as a means to assess automatic sleep‐related attitudes. The study included 136 young adults (age = 21.70 ± 2.22, 43% female). At baseline, the two IATs, the speeded self‐report, and standard self‐reports of sleep determinants (reflective attitudes, self‐efficacy, intention and action planning for sleep‐promoting behaviour), sleep hygiene practices, sleep quality, and sleep duration were assessed. All variables except for the sleep determinants were assessed again at 2‐week follow‐up. The results demonstrated good reliability of the two IAT versions, but both IATs were unrelated to the speeded self‐report, the sleep determinants, sleep practices, sleep quality or sleep duration. The speeded self‐report correlated significantly with the standard self‐reports of sleep determinants. Baseline scores on the IATs or speeded self‐report did not predict sleep hygiene practices, sleep duration or sleep quality at follow‐up. The findings indicate that sleep‐related IATs might not be suited to assess automatic sleep‐related attitudes. Further investigation is needed to determine whether speeded self‐reports are valid measures of automatic attitudes. Moreover, more empirical research is required to clarify the role of automatic processes for sleep hygiene behaviours.