The Predictive Role of Trauma Exposure, Sleep Quality and Metacognitive Dysfunction in Everyday Memory Functioning - A Multiple Regression Study

Abstract

Memory is a significant cognitive process shaped by both internal self-regulatory mechanisms and external psychological stimuli. Previous research has discovered that trauma is associated with memory difficulties while poor sleep quality impairs both retrospective and prospective memory. On the other hand, metacognitive dysfunction is associated with increased cognitive complaints and poor self-monitoring of memory performance. The present study explored whether psychological trauma, sleep quality and metacognitive dysfunction predict memory discrepancies in a non-clinical population. While these variables have been extensively researched separately, this research represents the first known attempt to examine them combined within a single predictive model. The research explores how these interrelated factors contribute to everyday difficulties by using cognitive, clinical and neuropsychological frameworks. 130 participants completed four validated self-report measures that assess trauma exposure (International Trauma Questionnaire), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), metacognitive beliefs (Metacognition Questionnaire-30) and memory function (Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire). All predictor variables were standardized, and a multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess their contributions to memory outcomes, either individually or combined. The overall model was statistically significant and accounted for 30.5% of the variance in memory performance (R2 = .305, p<.001). Metacognitive dysfunction was the strongest predictor, followed by sleep quality. Although psychological trauma was significantly associated with memory at bivariate level, it did not retain predictive value in the full model. These findings suggest that metacognitive beliefs may be more important in perceived memory difficulties than trauma exposure and that sleep exerts an independent effect. Integrating these variables which are often studied separately, this research aims to contribute to a more nuanced and ecologically valid understanding of memory as an active cognitive outcome.