Overnight affective dynamics and sleep characteristics as predictors of depression and its development in women

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We examined i) differences in overnight affective inertia (carry-over of evening affect to the next morning) for positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) between individuals with past, current, and no depression; ii) how sleep duration and quality influence overnight affective inertia in these groups, and iii) whether overnight affective inertia predicts depression development.

METHODS: We used data of 579 women from the East-Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. For aim 1 and 2, individuals with past (n=82), current (n=26), and without (lifetime) depression (n=471) at baseline were examined. For aim 3, individuals who did (n=58) and did not (n=319) develop a depressive episode at 12-month follow-up. Momentary PA and NA were assessed 10 times a day for 5 days. Sleep was assessed daily with sleep diaries. Affective inertia was operationalized as the influence of evening affect on morning affect. Linear mixed-effect models were used to test the hypotheses.

RESULTS: Overnight affective inertia for NA was significantly larger in the current compared to the non-depressed group, and daytime NA inertia was larger in the past compared to the non-depressed group. Overnight NA inertia was differently associated with shorter sleep duration in both depression groups and with lower sleep quality in the current compared to the non-depressed group. Overnight affective inertia did not predict depression development at 12-month follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: Current findings demonstrate the importance of studying complex affect dynamics such as overnight affective inertia in relation to depression and sleep characteristics. Replication of these findings, preferably with longer time-series, is needed.