Graduation Year
2016
Date of Submission
4-2016
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Psychology
Reader 1
Stacey Doan
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2016 Clayton I. Brock
Abstract
The goal of this research was to investigate multiple aspects of self-regulation and their relationship to stress, sleep, and behavioral health. Participants (N=89, 55 females, 29 males, and 5 did not list their sex) were recruited from a high-risk Midwest high school. Participants reported their own self-regulatory ability, sleep, stress, and behavioral problems. Nail samples were also collected from a subset of the participants to assay for cortisol and DHEA. Several measures of self-regulation were found to correlate with sleep quality, behavioral problems, and perceived stress. The natural log of the ratio of cortisol to DHEA was positively correlated with multiple measures of self-regulation. These findings demonstrate a relationship a positive relationship among self-regulation, sleep quality, and improved behavioral functioning as indexed by lower levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Better self-regulation also correlated with lower perceived stress, but higher physiological biomarkers of stress. These findings are discussed in the context of theoretical proposals of self-regulation and stress adaption.
Recommended Citation
Brock, Clayton I., "The Relationship between Self-Regulation and Stress, Sleep, and Behavioral Health" (2016). CMC Senior Theses. 1370.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1370
