There is an increasing focus on the role of sleep in psychological disorders, including Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) and Psychopathic Personality Disorder. Consistent with a relationship between sleep and impulsivity, compared to controls, APD patients report lower subjective sleep quality, longer sleep latency, shorter duration of sleep, less habitual sleep efficiency, more sleep disturbances, more use of sleeping medication, and a higher level of daytime dysfunction. Compared to APD less is known about the relation between sleep and symptoms associated with psychopathy. The current study included objectively measured sleep using an actigraphy device to record activity levels and sleep interruptions in a large sample of 402 (233 f, 169 m) undergraduate college students at Texas A&M University. Significant gender differences were found for age of participants, psychopathy scores, anxiety scores, and antisocial scores. Results indicated that individuals reporting high levels of psychopathy also reported high levels of impulsivity on the questionnaire measures. While a relationship between sleep efficiency and psychopathy was not found in the current study, several mood effects did emerge. Findings of the current study replicate prior research, and support the continuation of examining sleep in individuals with psychopathy as well as mood disorders.
