Diversity Matters: The Role of Sleep Disturbance Diversity in the Association Between Sleep Disturbance and Subjective Happiness in Older Adults

Approximately half of older adults report being troubled by various types and degrees of sleep disturbance symptoms, which are detrimental to their subjective happiness. This study examined the relationship between sleep disturbances and subjective happiness in older adults through a multilevel analysis of longitudinal tracking data. Importantly, we investigated the role of sleep disturbance diversity—referring to the variety and relative abundance of sleep disturbances that an older adult suffers from—in explaining the intra-individual and inter-individual differences in the association between sleep disturbances and subjective happiness. A total of 388 older adults completed three waves of sleep disturbance and subjective happiness measurements, with each measurement spaced six months apart. Sleep disturbance diversity was calculated using the Shannon entropy formula. The results of the multilevel analysis showed that mean sleep disturbance score was negatively associated with subjective happiness of older adults at both the between-person and within-person levels. Additionally, sleep disturbance diversity moderated the association between sleep disturbance score and subjective happiness at the between-person level, the within-person level, and across between-person and within-person levels. In all three levels, the association between mean sleep disturbance score and subjective happiness in older adults was significant only among those with high sleep disturbance diversity. High sleep disturbance diversity may hinder older adults’ ability to actively allocate resources to cope with sleep disturbances, resulting in poorer subjective happiness. This has significant implications for understanding the relationship between sleep disturbances and the well-being of older adults.