The moderating role of anger rumination and self‐control in the day‐to‐day associations between irritability and sleep in male adolescents: An exploratory experience sampling method study

Background Irritability is highly prevalent in adolescents and may be exacerbated by sleep disturbances, with sleep patterns undergoing significant changes during this developmental period. Reciprocally, poor sleep may generate an increase in anger dysregulation. This exploratory study investigates the day‐to‐day associations between sleep and irritability, as well as the moderating effects of maladaptive (i.e., anger rumination) and adaptive (i.e., self‐control) emotion regulation (ER) strategies. Methods Fifty‐six male adolescents aged 12–18, with diverse sleep and emotional problems, participated in a 9‐day experience sampling method study. Participants also completed self‐report questionnaires assessing irritability, sleep quantity and quality, and maladaptive and adaptive ER strategies. Linear mixed effect models with lagged covariates were used to test associations and moderating effects. Results At the within‐person level, sleep quality was associated with next‐day irritability ( β std = −0.92, 95% CI [−1.31, −0.53). Higher daily anger rumination ( β std = 0.25, 95% CI [0.17, 0.34]), and daily self‐control ( β std = −0.18, 95% CI [−0.27, −0.10]) were directly associated with higher next‐day irritability. At the between‐person level, lower self‐control was also associated with higher next‐day irritability ( β std = −0.52, 95% CI [−0.77, −0.27]). Interactions between daily sleep quality and between‐person anger rumination ( = 0.18, 95% [0.07, 0.30]), and self‐control ( = 0.75, 95% CI [0.38, 1.12]) were related with irritability. Reciprocally, lower irritability from the day was associated with better sleep quality the following night ( β std = −0.11, 95% CI [−0.20, −0.01]). Conclusion These preliminary findings suggest that sleep may be related to next‐day irritability in adolescent boys and may vary as a function of anger rumination and self‐control. Additionally, irritability also showed a potential association with subsequent sleep. However, findings should be interpreted cautiously given the small, all‐male adolescent sample. Future studies including larger and more diverse adolescent samples are needed to assess their generalizability and robustness.