Premium
The subjective assessment of daytime cognitive dysfunction and motivation by insomniacs
Author(s) -
Coyle Kieran
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8287.1998.tb00565.x
Subject(s) - psychology , anxiety , psychopathology , cognition , clinical psychology , insomnia , affect (linguistics) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , communication
The research reported in this paper investigates insomniacs' self‐reports of daytime cognitive dysfunction and poor motivation as part of the aftermath of disturbed sleep. Results show that an insomniac group ( N = 103) does not differ from normal sleepers ( N = 40) on mean scale scores measuring everyday ‘attentional experiences’ (Davies et al ., 1998), nor on measures of ‘competence’ or ‘aspiration’ at work and home. However, within the sleep‐disturbed group those with a higher level of anxiety and depression report significantly greater attentional dysfunction and lower levels of motivation. Further analyses show that those insomniacs with low levels of psychopathology do not differ from controls in self‐assessments of attention or motivation, although their sleep problem is as severe as those with high levels. The ‘next day’ effects that often form a major focus of presenting complaints of insomnia are thus not shared with those whose affect is more positive.