Original article
Sleep Patterns and Predictors of Disturbed Sleep in a Large Population of College Students

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.06.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To characterize sleep patterns and predictors of poor sleep quality in a large population of college students. This study extends the 2006 National Sleep Foundation examination of sleep in early adolescence by examining sleep in older adolescents.

Method

One thousand one hundred twenty-five students aged 17 to 24 years from an urban Midwestern university completed a cross-sectional online survey about sleep habits that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Horne-Ostberg Morningness–Eveningness Scale, the Profile of Mood States, the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and questions about academic performance, physical health, and psychoactive drug use.

Results

Students reported disturbed sleep; over 60% were categorized as poor-quality sleepers by the PSQI, bedtimes and risetimes were delayed during weekends, and students reported frequently taking prescription, over the counter, and recreational psychoactive drugs to alter sleep/wakefulness. Students classified as poor-quality sleepers reported significantly more problems with physical and psychological health than did good-quality sleepers. Students overwhelmingly stated that emotional and academic stress negatively impacted sleep. Multiple regression analyses revealed that tension and stress accounted for 24% of the variance in the PSQI score, whereas exercise, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and consistency of sleep schedule were not significant predictors of sleep quality.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate that insufficient sleep and irregular sleep–wake patterns, which have been extensively documented in younger adolescents, are also present at alarming levels in the college student population. Given the close relationships between sleep quality and physical and mental health, intervention programs for sleep disturbance in this population should be considered.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were students between the ages of 17 and 24 (N = 1,125; 420 male, 705 female) at a large private university in the Midwest. Of these participants, 27% were freshmen (N = 305), 27% were sophomores (N = 312), 24% were juniors (N = 271), and 20% were seniors (N = 232). The mean age was 20 (SD = 1.3 years). Survey respondents were representative of the age and ethnic diversity of the school; 86% of participants were Caucasian (N = 978), 5% were Asian or Pacific Islander (N = 58), 2% were African

Sleeping behavior: quantity and quality

Overall, college students reported chronically restricted sleep. Mean total sleep time (time spent actually sleeping, as opposed to being awake in bed) was 7.02 hours (SD = 1.15). Twenty-five percent of students reported getting less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night, and only 29.4% of students reported getting 8 or more hours of total sleep time per night, the average amount required for young adults [28]. Sleep was particularly restricted on weeknights; mean weekday bedtime was 12:17 a.m. (SD = 71 

Discussion

Overall, the results demonstrate that the epidemic of insufficient sleep documented in high school students extends past early and midadolescence to college students. Total sleep time is similar between high school and college students, but bedtimes and risetimes are shifted later by about 90 minutes on both week and weekend days. The tendency to delay bedtimes and extend risetimes during weekends also continues into young adulthood. In addition to short sleep and irregular schedules, college

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