Negotiating sleep: gender, age and social relationships amongst couples

The research examined social factors influencing the quality of sleep and sleep negotiation between working age men and women at varying stages of the lifecourse. It used a multi-method approach, which included the integration of social scientific and physiological data:

1. Qualitative interviews with 40 couples, to obtain information as to their described sleep reality and to understand how this differs from their normative views on sleep.
2. Individual qualitative audio recorded sleep diaries for a period of one week (x80), to provide qualitative data on each partners sleep behaviour.
3. Quantitative actigraphy data for a period of one week (x80).