Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41641844›Full record

ArticleStress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress2026

What Role Do Perfectionism and Cognitive Pre-Sleep Arousal Play in the Link Between Stress and Sleep? A Daily Diary Study in University Students.

Alexander Haussmann, Nina Schilling, Marie Alfter, Jannis Yahja, Alica Mertens, Laura I Schmidt

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Article in Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Alexander HaussmannDepartment of Gender Studies and Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8586-3301
Nina SchillingDepartment of Gender Studies and Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Marie AlfterDepartment of Gender Studies and Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Jannis YahjaDepartment of Gender Studies and Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Alica MertensSection of Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Aging, School of Social Science, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Laura I SchmidtDepartment of Gender Studies and Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8750-9242

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Insufficient sleep is common among university students and impairs health and academic functioning. While multidimensional perfectionism (perfectionistic concerns and strivings) and daily stress are potential contributors, yet their interplay and underlying cognitive mechanisms remain unclear. Cognitive pre-sleep arousal may mediate links between stress, personality traits, and sleep. In a 14-day micro-longitudinal study, 88 German university students (M = 22.47 years, SD = 3.48) wore fitness trackers and completed daily diaries assessing objective sleep duration, subjective sleep quality, subjective sleep onset latency (SOL), daily stress, and cognitive pre-sleep arousal. Trait perfectionism and covariates (emotional distress, Big Five traits, and sex) were measured via questionnaires. Multilevel modelling and structural equation modelling were used. Neither perfectionistic concerns nor strivings predicted any sleep parameters. However, daily stress was associated with shorter sleep duration (b = -0.21, p = 0.033), lower sleep quality (b = -0.09, p = 0.006), longer SOL (root transformed: b = 0.01, p = 0.046), and higher cognitive arousal (b = 0.06, p < 0.01). No interaction effects between perfectionism and stress were found. Within-person mediation showed that on days with elevated stress, increased cognitive pre-sleep arousal partially explained shorter sleep (indirect effect = -0.16), lower sleep quality (indirect effect = -0.08), and longer SOL (indirect effect = 0.01; all p < 0.001). Exploratory analyses indicated that emotional distress, unlike perfectionism, predicted longer SOL via heightened cognitive pre-sleep arousal (indirect effect = 0.09, p = 0.007). Given the suboptimal model fit in the mediation models, all indirect effects should be interpreted with caution. Daily stress robustly impairs sleep and elevates cognitive pre-sleep arousal, which partially mediates its negative effects on sleep variables. Multidimensional perfectionism was not associated with sleep, nor did it moderate the stress-sleep link. Targeting cognitive pre-sleep arousal may be a promising mechanism to improve sleep in students experiencing elevated stress.

Indexed as

ArousalCognitionPerfectionismSleepSleep QualityStress, PsychologicalStudentsAdultFemaleGermanyHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleSleep DurationUniversitiesYoung Adultactigraphyarousaldaily diaryecological momentary assessmentperfectionismsleepstressstudents

Identifiers

PMID41641844
PMCPMC12875018

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LicenceCC BY
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.