Patterns of affect, sleep, and autobiographical memories seem related but there are no studies we know of to verify the notion. The purpose of this research is to investigate interrelationships between profiles of affect, sleep, and autobiographical memories. A cross-sectional design is employed. Three hundred and thirteen adult students participated.
The data generated are viewed from two complementary perspectives. Our cluster analyses identified a group of individual states whose lives appear to be arousing and stressful (high positive and negative affect) yet they slept significantly better than self-destructive states (high on negative affect and low on positive affect). Our regressions imply that negative autobiographical memories are involved in a relationship with sleep independently of fairly stable patterns of affect, biological sex, and age. We finish by noting that apart from investigating these relationships longitudinally, cultural differences in patterns of affect and their health correlates should be explored.