Couples’ Sleep and Psychological Distress: A Dyadic Perspective

Objectives: Research on aging has increasingly recognized sleep as a key determinant of physical and psychological well-being. The existing literature, however, considers sleep solely at the individual-level. This study constructed dyadic sleep measures and demonstrated their capacity to predict individual-level sleep and psychological distress. Methods: This study analyzed 2 waves (2009 and 2013) of older couples' same-day time diary data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Supplement on Disability and Use of Time. Dyadic sleep measures included: (a) bedtime differences, (b) wake-up time differences, (c) a categorical indicator of couple's sleeping routines, and (d) a categorical indicator of couple's waking routines. Results: The measures indicated substantial discordance in the sleep habits of older couples. Results from multilevel regressions showed that waking patterns predicted individual-level sleep durations. Dyadic sleep measures, particularly sleeping patterns, independently predicted the respondents' psychological distress; controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, marital quality, and individual-level sleep measures. Patterns were more pronounced in the weekend measures. Discussion: Sleep is a dyadic interpersonal process. This study demonstrated that dyadic sleep is a key aspect for older adults' sleep that cannot be reduced to individual-level sleep. Future studies and surveys should incorporate instruments to measure sleep at the couple-level.