Associations between total sleep time and positive and negative suicidal ideation: a path analysis in a community sample

This study examined associations between objectively measured total sleep time (TST) and self-reported suicidal ideation constructs in a rural community sample. Data were drawn from the Short Sleep Undermines Cardiometabolic Health-Public Health Observational Study (SLUMBRx-PONS), a cross-sectional cohort conducted in the southeastern United States. Participants (N = 75; 46.7% male; M = 36.24 ± 11.44 years) completed seven consecutive nights of wrist-based actigraphy to determine mean TST. Suicidal ideation was assessed using the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation (PANSI) inventory, which includes Positive Ideation (PI; protective) and Negative Suicidal Ideation (NSI; risk) subscales. Path analysis was used to test associations of TST with PI and NSI, applying maximum likelihood estimation and bias-corrected bootstrap resampling (5,000 iterations) to generate robust standard errors and 95% confidence intervals. Model fit was acceptable, χ² (1) = 3.10, p = .079; CFI = 0.87; TLI = 0.61; IFI = 0.89; RMSEA = 0.17, 90% CI [0.00, 0.40], PLCOSE = .106. TST was a significant positive predictor of PI (b = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .028, β = 0.25, 95% BC CI [0.00, 0.06]) and a significant negative predictor of NSI (b = -0.03, SE = 0.01, p < .001, β = -0.38, 95% BC CI [-0.05, -0.01]). Each additional hour of sleep was associated with an approximately 1.5-point increase in PI and a 1.74-point decrease in NSI. Shorter sleep duration was therefore associated with reduced positive and elevated negative suicidal ideation, supporting the possibility that sleep duration may be a useful correlate of suicide-related cognitions in community samples.