Sleep Quality and Academic Performance in University Students: A Wake-Up Call for College Psychologists

Abstract

Both sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality are prominent in American society, especially in college student populations. Sleep problems are often a primary disorder rather than secondary to depression. The purpose of the present study was to determine if sleep deprivation and/or poor sleep quality in a sample of nondepressed university students was associated with lower academic performance. A significant negative correlation between Global Sleep Quality score (GSQ) on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and grade point average supports the hypothesis that poor sleep quality is associated with lower academic performance for nondepressed students. Implications for both the remedial (assessment and treatment) and preventive (outreach) work of college and university counseling centers is discussed.

Keywords:

• academic performance
• college students
• Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
• sleep quality

The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Stephen Bohnenblust and Ms. Ashley Johnson of the Center for Scholarship and Research at Minnesota State University Mankato (MSUM) for their assistance with data analysis and manuscript preparation. We also want to thank Magdalena Brockel, Elizabeth Nelson, and Sarah Powers, graduate students in the MSUM Psychology Department, for their invaluable assistance with literature review, data collection, and data entry.

Notes

1. The average number of hours slept for all of the students in the initial sample (including those subsequently screened out for depression) was 7.0, with a standard deviation of 1.2 and a range of 2 to 12.