Sleep Habits and Patterns of College Students: A Preliminary Study

TLDR

Sleep difficulties have well‑documented negative effects, yet their prevalence among U.S. college students remains poorly understood due to limited and methodologically weak studies. The study aims to use a quantitative assessment tool to gauge college students’ sleep problems and fill gaps in the literature. The authors employed a quantitative assessment instrument to evaluate sleep disturbances among students.

Abstract

The negative effects of sleep difficulties have been well documented. However, the prevalence of such problems among US college students has not been well studied. Design difficulties are common in the limited number of existing investigations, making it difficult to estimates the prevalence and types of disturbance studied. The authors describe the use of a quantitative-based assessment instrument to provide an initial indication of students' sleep problems and to serve as a means of addressing some of the deficiencies in the literature. In their sample of 191 undergraduates at a rural southern university, they found that most of the students exhibited some form of sleep disturbance and that women, in general, reported more sleep disturbances than men did. They suggest how colleges and university officials can alter procedures to minimize students' sleep disturbances and reduce the deleterious effects of sleep problems on academic performance.