University Students' Sleep and Mental Health Correlates in South Korea

The Interplay of Sleep Quality, Mental Health, and Sociodemographic and Clinical Factors among Italian College Freshmen

Background/Objectives: Sleep and mental health are closely linked, with sleep deprivation increasing the risk of mental health problems in college students. This study aimed to analyze the role of sleep in the mental health status of a sample of Italian freshmen, considering various mental health outcomes and potential interactions between sleep and other relevant factors, such as sociodemographic characteristics, academic experiences, and mental health history. Methods: All freshmen from a medium-sized Italian university were invited to participate in a multidimensional online survey (n = 3756). Sleep quality was assessed through questions on average hours of sleep per night and on satisfaction of perceived sleep quality. Mental health outcomes included psychophysical well-being, psychological distress, substance use, and problematic internet use. Statistical analysis involved multivariate analysis of variance, followed by pairwise comparisons. Results: The sample (n = 721) exhibited low levels of well-being and a high prevalence of psychological distress (52.1%). Approximately one-third of students (n = 258) were dissatisfied with their sleep quality, and one-fourth (n = 186) reported inadequate sleep (less than 7 h per night). More specifically, 24.4% of students slept on average six hours per night, and 1.4% slept five hours or less. Satisfaction with perceived sleep quality significantly influenced well-being, psychological distress, and cannabis use (ηp2 = 0.02). Interaction effects were observed between satisfaction with sleep quality and drop-out intentions (ηp2 = 0.01), as well as between satisfaction with sleep quality and history of mental health diagnosis (ηp2 = 0.02), both of which were significant for psychological distress and cannabis use. Conclusions: This study highlights the influence of perceived sleep quality on academic distress among college freshmen, particularly those with higher intentions of leaving university and with a history of mental health diagnosis.

The relationship between academic stress and depression among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study from China

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health has attracted great attention. However, there is a lack of research on the relationship between academic stress and depression in Chinese college students and its mechanisms. Therefore, this study investigated the mechanisms of coping style, sleep quality, and interpersonal relationship in academic stress and depression among college students.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2022 through face-to-face questionnaires with college students in Anhui Province, China. The questionnaires included sociodemographic information, the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, and the Self-Rating Depression Scale. Ordered logistic regression model was used to study the relationship between academic stress and depression of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic through the mechanism analysis of coping style, sleep quality and interpersonal relationship.

RESULTS

Two thousand thirty-three Chinese college students participated in the study, including 1,285 female and 748 male college students, with an average age 19.81 years old (SD = 1.22 years old). The results showed that (1) Academic stress had a significant impact on depression in college students under the background of COVID-19 (p < 0.01); (2) The influence of academic stress on depression had a difference in work experience as student cadres, which showed that college students who had served as student cadres were less affected by academic stress (p < 0.10), college students who had not served as student cadres were greatly affected by the academic stress (p < 0.05); (3) College students' attitudes toward COVID-19 significantly affected depression (p < 0.01); (4) Counselors' concern had a significant impact on college students' depression (p < 0.01); (5) Positive coping style, high quality sleep and good interpersonal relationship were the important mechanisms of the impact of academic stress on college students' depression.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides new findings for in-depth understanding of the relationship between academic stress and depression among college students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is conducive to the provision of targeted intervention measures for the mental health of college students.

Interactive effects of sleep and physical activity on depression among rural university students in China

Background

Decreased sleep quality and physical activity among university students have become important concerns, while depressive symptoms are on the rise, especially in rural areas. Previous studies have confirmed the association between sleep quality and physical activity and depressive symptoms, but the effect of their interaction on depressive symptoms has been less studied. For this reason, the present study analyzed the interaction between sleep quality and physical activity on depressive symptoms to provide reference and assistance for mental health promotion and intervention for university students in rural areas of China.

Methods

In this study, we investigated sleep quality, physical activity, and depressive symptoms in 11,423 university students in rural areas of China. The association of sleep quality and physical activity with depressive symptoms was analyzed by using univariate analysis and logistic regression analysis. And further analyzed the association between the interaction effect of sleep quality and physical activity and depressive symptoms.

Results

The proportion of university students with depressive symptoms in rural China was 33.3%, with a higher proportion of girls students (36.7%) having depressive symptoms than boys students (28.8%). Logistic regression analysis of the interaction between sleep quality and physical activity and depressive symptoms in university students showed that university students with poor sleep quality and MVPA>60 min/d (OR = 4.40,95% CI: 3.75-5.05) had the highest risk of depressive symptoms (p < 0.001). University students with moderate sleep quality and MVPA of 30-60 min/d (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 0.75-1.61) had the lowest risk of depressive symptoms (p < 0.001). Moreover, there was no gender difference in this result.

Conclusion

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher among university students in rural areas of China. There was an interaction between sleep quality and MVPA on depressive symptoms, maintaining a good quality of sleep and an appropriate length of MVPA has a contributory effect on mental health, and the same trend was found for both boys and girls students. It is recommended that university students in rural areas of China should first maintain proper sleep quality while maintaining 30-60 min of MVPA per day, which may reduce the risk of depressive symptoms.

Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome and Child Sleep Problems in ADHD, Anxiety and Depression

The main objective of this study was to analyse the relationship and differential contribution of Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) and sleep problems in children in different psychopathological measures. A total of 1133 participants (612 fathers/mothers and 521 children aged 7-13 years in Years 3-6 of Primary Education) completed the scales on CDS, sleep problems, depression (DEP), anxiety (ANX) and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Similar and significant correlations were identified in the measures of CDS and sleep problems between fathers and mothers, obtaining a high coefficient between the two parents. However, weak correlations were found between fathers/mothers and children. The scores of CDS and the sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC) significantly predicted the internalising measures and ADHD, especially between SDSC and DEP. It was confirmed that sleep problems had a greater presence in the group of children with the highest ADHD scores, and especially in CDS and ADHD jointly. To conclude, the data indicate the importance of sleep problems in understanding CDS and its relationship with other psychopathological measures, especially ADHD, although to a greater extent with internalising symptoms, especially DEP.