Overlap between individual variation in personality traits and sleep-wake behavior

Abstract

The efforts to link the individual differences in personality to the individual differences in sleep-wake behavior have a long history. One of the topics of such research might be to determine the strength of association between these two domains of individual variation. This requires the implementation of several inventories designed for integrative multidimensional assessments of a set of broad personality traits and a set of sleep-wake behavioral traits. Four independent samples were collected (in total, 759 individuals) for estimating general overlap between the domains of individual variation in personality psychology and chronobiology. Canonical correlation analyses provided the estimates of general overlap of six broad personality traits assessed with the 172-word RCIP (Rugby Cake Inventory of Personality) with six distinct sleep-wake adaptabilities assessed with the 72-item SWPAQ (Sleep-Wake Pattern Assessment Questionnaire) and the SWAT (Sleep-Wake Adaptability Test) in two, the 60-and 168-item, versions. It was demonstrated that general overlap between individual variation in two domains was significant and replicable albeit rather weak (6%–8%). Moreover, regression analyses of specific overlaps of each of six scales for assessing sleep-wake adaptability with a set of six scales for personality assessment suggested that a score on any of adaptability scales seemed to be a significant predictor of, at least, one of six scores on personality trait scales. Studies in other tongues are desired for the replication of the results indicating the statistically significant general and specific overlaps between personality traits and sleep-wake adaptabilities.