GRATITUDE AND SLEEP QUALITY AMONG YOUNG AND MIDDLE ADULTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Previous researches have shown that appreciation predicted higher subjective sleep quality, lower daytime dysfunction, and shorter sleep latency. Pleasant and unpleasant cognitions before one’s sleep mediated the relationship between gratitude and sleep quality. However, there remains a lack of understanding about how thankfulness affects people throughout their lives and how different age groups differ in terms of gratitude and sleep quality. The study attempted to close the gap by comparing gratitude and sleep quality in young and middle-aged adults. A cross-sectional design was used with a sample size of 120 participants, including 60 young adults and 60 middle-aged individuals. The Sleep Quality Scale and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) were used to assess sleep quality and gratitude among individuals respectively. For statistical analysis, Pearson correlation was performed to determine the correlation between the measures (gratitude and sleep quality) among young and middle-aged individuals, and a two-tailed T-test was employed to identify significant differences between the two groups for both measures. The findings indicated that there were significant differences between sleep quality among young adults (M=33.98, SD=10.13, n=60) and middle adults (M=29.77, SD=8.63, n=60); t (118) =-2.45, p=0.02 (two-tailed test); however, no significant difference was found between gratitude among young adults (M=30.93, SD=6.22, n=60) and middle adults (M=30.68, SD=5.89, n=60); t (118) =- 0.23, p=0.82 (two-tailed) and correlation studies showed a moderate positive correlation among both young adults (r =0.54) and middle adults (r=0.61) at 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05). Overall, the findings suggested that sleep quality differed across lifespan and gratitude was mediated by subjective’ s experiences, spiritual virtues and life skills.