Perfectionism related to self-reported insomnia severity, but not when controlled for stress and emotion regulation

Background: Perfectionism is understood as a set of personality traits such as unrealistically high and rigid standards for performance, fear of failure, and excessive self-criticism. Previous studies showed a direct association between increased perfectionism and poor sleep, though without taking into account possible mediating factors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that perfectionism was directly associated with poor sleep, and that this association collapsed, if mediating factors such as stress and poor emotion regulation were taken into account.

Methods: Three hundred and forty six young adult students (M=23.87 years) completed questionnaires relating to perfectionism traits, sleep, and psychological functioning such as stress perception, coping with stress, emotion regulation, and mental toughness.

Results: Perfectionism was directly associated with poor sleep and poor psychological functioning. When stress, poor coping, and poor emotion regulation were entered in the equation, perfectionism traits no longer contributed substantively to the explanation of poor sleep.

Conclusion: Though perfectionism traits seem associated with poor sleep, the direct role of such traits seemed small, when mediating factors such as stress perception and emotion regulation were taken into account.