Investigation on dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep in Chinese college students

Abstract

Objective

The aims of this study were to evaluate a subset of sleep-related cognitions and to examine whether dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep were associated with sleep quality in college students.

Patients and methods

A total of 1,333 college students were enrolled in this study by randomized cluster sampling. A brief version of Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale (DBAS-16) was administered to college students at several colleges. Sleep quality was also assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The DBAS-16 scores were analyzed across different demographic variables, corresponding subscales of 7-item PSQI, and relevant sleep behavior variables.

Results

A total of 343 participants were poor sleepers, while 990 were good sleepers, as defined by PSQI. The DBAS-16 scores were lower in poor sleepers than in good sleepers (46.32 ± 7.851 vs 49.87 ± 8.349, p < 0.001), and DBAS-16 scores were lower in females and nonmedical students when compared with those in males and medical students, respectively (48.20 ± 8.711 vs 49.73 ± 7.923, p = 0.001; 48.56 ± 8.406 vs 49.88 ± 8.208, p = 0.009, respectively). The total score for sleep quality, as measured by PSQI, was negatively correlated with the DBAS-16 total score (r = −0.197, p < 0.01). There were significant differences in PSQI scores between individuals with attitudes and those without attitudes about sleep with respect to good sleep habits (p < 0.001), self-relaxation (p = 0.001), physical exercise (p < 0.001), taking sleeping pills (p = 0.004), and taking no action (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are associated with sleep quality and should be discouraged, especially for females and nonmedical college students.

Keywords:

• sleep
• dysfunctional beliefs
• college students
• sleep quality
• cognition

Acknowledgments

This survey was funded by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 1608085MH219). We thank all the study participants for their help in preparing and carrying out the fieldwork.

Author contributions

HY designed the study and conceived the survey. JZ and HP collected epidemiological data. SD sorted the data. LJ and JZ were involved in the fieldwork. LJ conducted the analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. HY evaluated the results and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.