Sleep Disturbance and Short-Term Suicide Risk in Youth After Psychiatric Hospitalization

2 research findings from this AFSP-funded study.

Research finding · May 2025

Sleep problems may fuel suicide risk in adolescents

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by heightened emotional reactivity and disrupted sleep patterns. Emerging evidence suggests that sleep problems, such as difficulties falling asleep and reduced sleep duration, may be modifiable risk factors for suicidal ideation. However, little is known about how sleep disturbances actually increase suicide risk in youth. Uncovering the short-term mechanisms linking sleep problems and suicidal thinking is critical for designing real-time interventions. One promising pathway between sleep disturbances and suicidal thoughts and behaviors involves anhedonia — the diminished ability to experience or anticipate pleasure — which may help explain how sleep disruption escalates suicidal thoughts.

Dr. Catherine Glenn, using her AFSP-funded grant, followed 48 adolescents hospitalized for suicide risk who were recently discharged from acute psychiatric care, collecting 28 days of real-time data via sleep diaries and real-time assessments. Dr. Glenn found that shorter total sleep time and longer sleep onset latency (e.g., difficulty falling asleep) were both associated with increased next-day difficulty experiencing in-the-moment pleasure (i.e., consummatory anhedonia), which in turn predicted heightened suicidal thoughts. Anticipatory anhedonia (i.e., difficulty looking forward to future pleasure) was also linked to suicidal ideation but did not affect the relationship between sleep and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These findings suggest that sleep-related deficits, such as anhedonia, in experiencing pleasure may be a key mechanism fueling suicide risk and can be a focus of new interventions.

Citation: Patel, K. K., Kearns, J. C., Foti, D., Pigeon, W. R., Kleiman, E. M., & Glenn, C. R. (2025). Anhedonia Links Sleep Problems and Suicidal Thoughts: An Intensive Longitudinal Study in High-Risk Adolescents. Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, 53(3), 331–347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01275-w

This finding comes from an AFSP-funded study — see the grant below ↓

Research finding · August 2023

Sleep can be measured in different ways to assist suicide prevention researchers

Disturbances in sleep are often associated with suicide risk. Researchers who study sleep and suicide often use actigraphy or sleep diaries to monitor individuals sleep patterns, but typically not both. Actigraphy is a non-invasive method of monitoring human rest/activity cycles (typically done with a wristwatch movement detection device) and sleep diaries are daily assessments in which individuals self-report on sleep. There has been a question as to how well the results from these two options agree with each other, especially in adolescents with psychiatric and sleep disorders.

In her study, Dr. Catherine Glenn and her team examined adherence to, and agreement between daily sleep diaries and actigraphy among 53 adolescents with psychiatric disorders in the 28 days following discharge from acute psychiatric care. Dr. Glenn found that there was both agreement and discrepancies between the two methods depending on what specific aspect of sleep was being measured and when participants were completing assessments. Agreements were found for total sleep time, sleep onset latency (how long it takes to fall asleep), and sleep efficiency, while discrepancies were found in number of nighttime awakenings and wake after sleep onset. These results provide valuable information for researchers when selecting methods to suit their research aims and understanding the relationship between sleep and suicide risk.

Citation: Kearns, J. C., Lachowitz, M., Bishop, T. M., Pigeon, W. R., & Glenn, C. R. (2023). Agreement between actigraphy and sleep diaries: A 28-day real-time monitoring study among suicidal adolescents following acute psychiatric care. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 164, 111097, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.111097

This finding comes from an AFSP-funded study — see the grant below ↓

The grant behind this work · 2017 Young Investigator