Research paperPsychiatric disorders moderate the relationship between insomnia and cognitive problems in military soldiers
Section snippets
Method
The data source for the present study was the All Army Study (AAS) of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members (STARRS). The AAS is a cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire administered between 2011 and 2013. For the current study, participants were a representative sample (unweighted N = 21,449; weighted N = 674,335; 13.5% female) of U.S. Army soldiers recruited in quarterly samples from active duty Army personnel. Each quarterly AAS replicate consisted of a
Results
Participants were military soldiers between the ages of 18 and 61 years (M = 29.5, SD = 7.9). Approximately, 66.3% were White, 16.3% were Black, 3.6% were Asian, 1.0% were Pacific Islanders, 1.3% were American Indian/Alaskan Native, 4.1% were multicultural, and 7.5% were other. About 34.5% completed GED/high school, 32.5% completed technical study/certificate programs, 10.7% completed an associate degree, 14.5% completed a four year degree, and 7.8% completed graduate/professional degrees.
Discussion
The present study examined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in relation to insomnia disorder in military soldiers, and investigated the role of psychiatric disorders in the relationship between insomnia and cognitive problems. Overall, our findings indicate that insomnia disorder is highly prevalent in military soldiers with current comorbid psychiatric disorders. Specifically, we found that military soldiers with current MDE had the highest prevalence rate of insomnia disorder (85.0%),
Conclusion
Psychiatric disorders moderated the relationship between insomnia disorder and memory and concentration problems. Our results highlight the importance of considering psychiatric disorders in the diagnosis and treatment of cognitive deficits in military soldiers with insomnia disorder, as treatment of insomnia alone may not be enough to improve cognitive functioning in those soldiers with comorbid psychiatric diagnoses. The present study further highlights the need to address both sleep
Role of funding source
This project was funded by the Department of the Army and funded under the cooperative agreement U01MH087981 with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Acknowledgements
This publication is based on public use data from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). The data are available from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan (http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35197-v1). Army STARRS was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (grant number U01MH087981). The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily
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