Longitudinal associations between Big Five personality and insomnia: evidence based on a 4-year perspective cohort study among community residents.

INTRODUCTION

While the association between personality traits and insomnia has been confirmed, the longitudinal relationship between them remains unclear.

METHODS

This is a 4-year longitudinal cohort study conducted among rural community residents ( = 482) in Shandong Province, China.

RESULTS

This study found that neuroticism ( = 0.175,  < 0.001), extraversion ( = -0.146,  < 0.001), and conscientiousness ( = -0.168,  < 0.001) at baseline had statistically significant longitudinal associations with insomnia at follow-up. In addition, insomnia at baseline had statistically significant longitudinal correlations with neuroticism ( = 0.142,  < 0.01), extraversion ( = -0.209,  < 0.001), and agreeableness ( = -0.122,  < 0.01) at follow-up.

DISCUSSION

This study showed that both neuroticism and extraversion had a bidirectional relationship with insomnia. Insomnia had a one - way longitudinal correlation with agreeableness, and conscientiousness had a one - way longitudinal correlation with insomnia. The longitudinal correlation between openness and insomnia was not supported in this study.