Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players

In rugby players, both sleep and the ability to regulate emotion are essential to performance and well-being. For example, poor sleep quality is associated with competition losses, and the inability to regulate emotions such as impulsivity and aggression is detrimental during play and could lead to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rawoot, Sameenah
Other Authors: Lipinska, Malgorzata
Format: Thesis
Language:Eng
Published: Department of Psychology 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613320896315392
access_status_str Open Access
author Rawoot, Sameenah
author2 Lipinska, Malgorzata
author_browse Lipinska, Malgorzata
Rawoot, Sameenah
author_facet Lipinska, Malgorzata
Rawoot, Sameenah
author_sort Rawoot, Sameenah
collection Thesis
description In rugby players, both sleep and the ability to regulate emotion are essential to performance and well-being. For example, poor sleep quality is associated with competition losses, and the inability to regulate emotions such as impulsivity and aggression is detrimental during play and could lead to injury. Critically, successful emotion regulation is fostered by healthy sleep and evidence shows that poor sleep quality is associated with poor emotion regulation. Therefore, poor sleep quality in this group of individuals may contribute to emotion dysregulation. Other factors that complicate the relationship between sleep and emotion regulation among rugby players include concussion experience, depression, alcohol use, and drug use, because of their independent influence on both sleep and emotion regulation. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the relationship between sleep quality and emotion regulation ability in rugby players who may or may not have a history of concussion, depression, alcohol use, and/or drug use. The current study included a group of participants who played club rugby (Rugby group; n = 21), and a group of sportsmen who did not play any contact sport (Non-Contact Sport group; n = 21). This online study utilized a survey, which included questions regarding demographics, alcohol and drug use, presence and severity of depressive symptoms, history of concussion, sleep quality, and emotion regulation ability. I used one-tailed t-tests, non-parametric measures, and multiple regression analyses to assess the relationship between sleep quality and emotion regulation ability, while controlling for history of concussion, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and drug use. Results indicated that the Rugby group displayed significantly poorer sleep quality, specifically with respect to sleep disturbance, than the Non-Contact Sport group, p = .05, d = .516. The Rugby group also reported significantly higher emotion regulation difficulties than the Non-Contact Sport group, p = .006, d = 14.36. The analyses also showed that a history of concussion, group, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and drug use, did not have a significant effect on emotion regulation, whereas sleep disturbance did. The results indicate that there is a strong negative correlation between sleep quality and emotion regulation in club rugby players. The implications of these results indicate that regardless of group allocation (i.e., participating in contact sport vs non-contact sport), sleep disturbance, is the primary factor in determining emotion regulation ability. The results suggest that whether one participates in contact-sport, or non-contact sport, good sleep quality should be a priority, and interventions should be in place for those who struggle with sleep disturbance in particular. However, the generalizability of these results are limited by the small sample size. Key words: concussion, rugby, sleep quality, emotion regulation
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40365
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language Eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40365 Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players Rawoot, Sameenah Lipinska, Malgorzata Schrieff Leigh Psychology In rugby players, both sleep and the ability to regulate emotion are essential to performance and well-being. For example, poor sleep quality is associated with competition losses, and the inability to regulate emotions such as impulsivity and aggression is detrimental during play and could lead to injury. Critically, successful emotion regulation is fostered by healthy sleep and evidence shows that poor sleep quality is associated with poor emotion regulation. Therefore, poor sleep quality in this group of individuals may contribute to emotion dysregulation. Other factors that complicate the relationship between sleep and emotion regulation among rugby players include concussion experience, depression, alcohol use, and drug use, because of their independent influence on both sleep and emotion regulation. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the relationship between sleep quality and emotion regulation ability in rugby players who may or may not have a history of concussion, depression, alcohol use, and/or drug use. The current study included a group of participants who played club rugby (Rugby group; n = 21), and a group of sportsmen who did not play any contact sport (Non-Contact Sport group; n = 21). This online study utilized a survey, which included questions regarding demographics, alcohol and drug use, presence and severity of depressive symptoms, history of concussion, sleep quality, and emotion regulation ability. I used one-tailed t-tests, non-parametric measures, and multiple regression analyses to assess the relationship between sleep quality and emotion regulation ability, while controlling for history of concussion, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and drug use. Results indicated that the Rugby group displayed significantly poorer sleep quality, specifically with respect to sleep disturbance, than the Non-Contact Sport group, p = .05, d = .516. The Rugby group also reported significantly higher emotion regulation difficulties than the Non-Contact Sport group, p = .006, d = 14.36. The analyses also showed that a history of concussion, group, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and drug use, did not have a significant effect on emotion regulation, whereas sleep disturbance did. The results indicate that there is a strong negative correlation between sleep quality and emotion regulation in club rugby players. The implications of these results indicate that regardless of group allocation (i.e., participating in contact sport vs non-contact sport), sleep disturbance, is the primary factor in determining emotion regulation ability. The results suggest that whether one participates in contact-sport, or non-contact sport, good sleep quality should be a priority, and interventions should be in place for those who struggle with sleep disturbance in particular. However, the generalizability of these results are limited by the small sample size. Key words: concussion, rugby, sleep quality, emotion regulation 2024-07-05T12:55:27Z 2024-07-05T12:55:27Z 2024 2024-07-05T12:14:50Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40365 Eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Psychology
Rawoot, Sameenah
Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
title_full Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
title_fullStr Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
title_short Investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
title_sort investigating the relationship between sleep and emotion amongst club rugby players
topic Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40365
work_keys_str_mv AT rawootsameenah investigatingtherelationshipbetweensleepandemotionamongstclubrugbyplayers