Abstract
Objective
To examine sleep health within a self-determination framework across a diverse college sample.
Participants
A nonclinical sample of undergraduate students (n = 399) from a large, urban, public university in the Mid-Atlantic United States in Spring 2020.
Methods
Participants were recruited via an online research participation portal and received extra credit for participation. All measures were administered via an online survey.
Results
Basic psychological need satisfaction was associated with sleep health. This association was partially mediated by sleep hygiene but not by regulatory style. There were no racial/ethnic differences in sleep health, sleep hygiene, basic need satisfaction, or regulatory style. Men reported more maladaptive motivational styles for sleep health, and non-binary/transgender students reported worse sleep hygiene.
Conclusion
Basic psychological need satisfaction and sleep hygiene are critical targets for intervention across diverse college student populations. Motivation may be less critical for nonclinical interventions.
Keywords:
Conflict of interest disclosure
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the IRB of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Data sharing
Data are available upon request.
Funding
No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.