The day-to-day impact of nighttime noise disturbances on college students' psychological functioning

Out of their control: College students' beliefs in sleep myths, sleep problems, and psychological flexibility

OBJECTIVES

College students suffer from deficient sleep, and the pernicious factors that support this phenomenon are diverse. The aim of the current study was to better understand the role of sleep-related myths in college students' sleep disturbance. A second aim was to examine if college students' levels of sleep disturbance were similarly associated with their belief in sleep-related myths or if their capacity to be psychologically flexible might moderate this process.

METHODS

The online sample consisted of 638 undergraduates (82.4% female; Mage=21.3, SD=1.6years), who reported on their level of belief in sleep-related myths, sleep disturbance, sleep environment, sleep hygiene, and psychological flexibility.

RESULTS

Controlling for critical sleep-related correlates, including melatonin usage, work hours and perceived sleep-related self-efficacy, we found that for students with below-average (-1 SD) psychological flexibility, the greater their belief in the myth that their sleep schedules were out of their control was associated with greater levels of sleep disturbance.

CONCLUSIONS

These results not only highlight another important source of college students' sleep problems, but they also speak to the widespread belief that college students have little control over their sleep. Findings from the current study raise the possibility that by developing students' capacities to be more psychologically flexible and by empowering students to prioritize their sleep, they will be able to decrease the likelihood of experiencing sleep and sleep-related problems.

Trends and prevalence of suicide 2017-2021 and its association with COVID-19: Interrupted time series analysis of a national sample of college students in the United States

BACKGROUND

Suicide is among the leading causes of death for college students. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on trends in suicidal thoughts and behaviors among college students, and whether suicidal thoughts and behaviors were associated with COVID-19 infection and psychosocial factors.

METHODS

We analyzed 2017-2021 data from 4 waves of Healthy Minds Study including a random sample of college students (N = 354,473) from 286 U.S. institutions. We performed interrupted time series analysis to model the effect of the pandemic on trends in suicidal ideation (SI), plan (SP), and attempt (SA). At the peripandemic assessment, we utilized multivariable logistic regression to examine the association of SI, SP, and SA with COVID-19 infection and psychosocial factors.

RESULTS

We observed significant decreases in SI, SP, and SA among college students from 2017 to 2021. The pandemic was significantly associated with a 1.33 percentage points reduction in SI and a 0.85 percentage points reduction in SP but was not associated with a significant reduction in SA. Adjusted associations of SI, SP, and SA with risk factors showed the significant odds ratio (OR) for suspected COVID-19 infection (SI: 1.33, SP: 1.22, SA: 1.32), severe depression (SI: 6.39, SP: 6.63, SA: 5.63), severe anxiety (SI: 3.66, SP: 3.62, SA: 3.60), COVID-19-related financial stress (SI: 1.35, SP: 1.34, SA: 1.48), food insecurity (SI: 2.12, SP: 2.13, SA: 2.79), and academic impairment (SI: 2.07, SP: 2.05, SA: 2.14) but not for test-confirmed COVID-19.

CONCLUSION

Certain COVID-19 mitigation strategies might have protected college students from suicidal thoughts/behaviors.

An Exploratory Analysis of the Effect of Demographic Features on Sleeping Patterns and Academic Stress in Adolescents in China

Adolescents typically engage in unhealthy lifestyle habits including short sleep and high academic stress. These in turn may have serious impacts on their development. The present study examines the effect of demographic characteristics on sleep patterns and academic stress in adolescents. A sample of 244 (119 females) junior high school adolescents aged between 11 and 16 were recruited from China. The Student Life Stress Questionnaire and the School Sleep Habits Survey were used to assess participants' sleep habits and academic stress. Multipair and corrected pairwise Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to assess the effect of school grade, gender, academic performance level, living situation, single child status, and parental education on adolescents' sleeping patterns and academic stress. Significant changes in facets of sleeping patterns emerged when examining groups of students in terms of school grade, living situation, and single-child status. Furthermore, caffeine consumption was found to be significantly higher in males, in students with poorer academic performances, and in single-child adolescents. Ultimately, academic stress was modulated by adolescents' school grade, academic performances, living situation, and single-child status. Developmental trajectories in sleep patterns together with differential exposure to stressors and adopted coping mechanisms are discussed in the manuscript.