Association Between the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System, Big-5, and Sleep in a College Student Sample: The Moderating Role of Neuroticism

Abstract

College students are a unique population due to the challenging transition into the independence of adulthood, as well as the increase in academic rigor and social expectations. As a result, health behaviors such as getting enough sleep can often fall to the wayside and, as such, sleep complaints are highly prevalent in college students. There are a variety of reasons for college students to experience sleep problems or choose to forgo sleep, and there is evidence to suggest that personality characteristics play a role. Jeffrey Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) suggests that the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) responds to signals of punishment and non-reward, is responsible for individual differences in anxiety, and inhibits movement toward goals, while the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) responds to signals of reward and non-punishment and stimulates movement toward goals. The BAS scales can be further separated into three BAS factors – Drive, Reward, and Fun Seeking. While there are few studies available that explore the relationship between BIS/BAS and sleep, one study found that college students higher in BIS were more likely to forgo sleep to study while individuals higher in BAS were more likely to forgo sleep due to work, social life, and entertainment. In addition, higher BAS activation was positively correlated with the number of perceived benefits of cutting down on sleep and higher BIS activation was positively correlated with the number of perceived losses. Additionally, there is evidence linking the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality with sleep. Specifically, neuroticism is characterized by a tendency toward distress and negative affect and has largely been found to be associated with poor sleep quality. Extraversion is characterized by sociability and positive affect; the literature yields mixed results with some studies indicating that higher extraversion is associated with better sleep quality while other studies have found the opposite effect. Moreover, research suggests that neuroticism has a strong positive relationship with BIS and extraversion is positively related to all BAS scales. While there are many studies linking BIS and BAS to the Big Five personality traits, several studies focusing on the Big Five and sleep, and a few studies focusing on BIS and BAS and sleep, no studies were found that assess the relationship among all three factors. As a result, the present study expanded the literature by providing more insight into how BIS/BAS, the Big Five (i.e., neuroticism and extraversion), and sleep are interrelated in 657 college students. It was hypothesized that BIS would be significantly associated with higher neuroticism, and that BAS would be significantly associated with higher extraversion. It was also hypothesized that BIS and neuroticism would be significantly associated with worse sleep quality, higher levels of insomnia, increased daytime sleepiness, and higher levels of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep. All three BAS factors and extraversion were hypothesized to be significantly associated with sleep quality, levels of insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep; these hypotheses were more exploratory. Lastly, it was hypothesized that neuroticism would moderate the relationship between BIS and sleep quality, as well as the relationship between BIS and insomnia severity. The hypotheses were partially supported. The results suggested a significant relationship between BIS and neuroticism, and between all BAS factors and extraversion. Higher levels of BIS and neuroticism were both significantly correlated with worse self-reported sleep quality, increased insomnia severity, more daytime sleepiness, and increase dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep. Extraversion was not significantly related to the domains of sleep assessed in this study. However, participants higher in BAS- Reward Responsiveness and BAS-Drive reported significantly better sleep quality and individuals higher in BAS- Reward Responsiveness also reported significantly lower levels of insomnia severity. Unexpectedly, the results of this study suggest that neuroticism does not significantly moderate the relationship between BIS and sleep quality nor the relationship between BIS and insomnia severity. These results are discussed in light of post-hoc analyses, and clinical implications with regards to the association between personality characteristics and sleep in college students.