An Investigation of the Prevalence of Insomnia in College Students and Its Relationship to Trait Anxiety.

Abstract

A number of empirical studies have established that insomnia, poor or inefficient sleep, can significantly impact physical and psychological well-being of college students, as well as interfere with their academic success. A major contributor to the experience of insomnia is that of persistent anxiety. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of insomnia in first-year college students, and explored the correlation between insomnia and trait anxiety. Data revealed a significant prevalence of insomnia in our sample (N = 100). There was also a strong correlation between trait anxiety and insomnia, in addition to a strong correlation between sleep-onset latency (e.g., pre-sleep experience) and sleep quality (e.g., post-sleep experience). Implications of the findings in addition to suggestions for improving students' sleep hygiene and quality are discussed. Keywords: sleep, insomnia, college students, anxiety, trait anxiety ********** Recent studies have suggested that as many as 70 percent of college students qualify as sleep deprived (Hicks & Pellegrini, 2001; Kloss, Nash, Horsey, & Taylor, 2011). A lack of quality sleep can significantly affect students' physical and cognitive functioning, particularly in terms of information processing, and difficulties with concentration and recall (Backhaus et al., 2006). In a true sense, many students may be compromising their education and inadvertently sabotaging their future by not paying enough attention to their need for quality and restorative sleep. Those who do recognize the importance of proper sleep hygiene may not have the resources to address this problem, and may end up relying on ineffective, if not potentially harmful, approaches, such as abusing prescription and non-prescription medications. The relationship between insomnia, academic performance, and quality of health cannot be overestimated (Lund, Reider, Whiting, & Pichard, 2010). Insomnia is a complex, behavioral and psychophysiological phenomenon that has various, measureable manifestations. Based on the diagnostic criteria of DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), insomnia may have three often independent, and at times interdependent, presentations. These may be referred to as sleep-onset latency insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia, and sleep quality insomnia. Although a variety of instruments and inventories for the assessment of sleep disorders are available for experimental and clinical investigations, none of these instruments specifically focus on insomnia in college students. For this reason, an original instrument (The College Student Sleep Assessment Inventory; see Appendix) was developed to investigate the manifestations of the various dimensions of insomnia on three independent scales. A fourth scale explores the use of a variety of sleep enhancement interventions that may be employed by students (Sadigh, 2012a). Anxiety is a major contributor to a variety of sleep disorders that may compromise sleep quality. Jansson-Frojmark and Lindblom (2008) found a close link between anxiety, depression, and insomnia. College life is fraught with the experience of anxiety in different forms, such as test anxiety, performance anxiety, anticipatory anxiety, etc. Often times, students may rely on ineffective or maladaptive interventions to address their anxiety, which my invariably affect their ability to benefit from restorative sleep. Hence, it is only prudent to explore the impact of persistent anxiety on sleep. A commonly used instrument that measures anxiety on two dimensions of state and trait anxiety is that of the State-Trait Anxiety inventory (Spielberger, 1983). This is a validated instrument that can be administered and scored in a short span of time. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of insomnia in first-year college students. Additionally, the study explored the relationship between insomnia and trait anxiety. …