Construction of a telephone interview to assess the relationship between mood and sleep in adolescence

Telephone interviews have been used
extensively as a tool to explore and assess sleep disorders
and psychopathological conditions. The aim of this study
was to set up and validate a telephone interview aimed at
assessing the correlation between mood and sleep variables
in adolescents. The study included 16–18 years subjects.
A total of approximately 4,000 calls were made; 529 adolescents
were finally enrolled. The questionnaire was divided
into two parts: the first one focused on affective
variables, the second one explored sleep variables. A factorial
analysis was carried out to explore the structure of the
questionnaire according to two factors: the first, which we
labeled ‘‘affective factor’’, and the second, ‘‘quality of
sleep’’. A positive correlation was found regarding the
feeling of wellbeing on awakening. A negative correlation
was found between feeling of wellbeing on awakening and
daytime drowsiness. In adolescence, increased daytime
sleepiness seemed to correlate with worsening mood.