Sleep pattern and insomnia among medical students

Item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale in a university student sample

“…In particular, catastrophic thoughts impacting sleep and the overall sleep quality of university students have been the subject of previous investigations [ 15 , 16 ]. Consistent with previous research [ 28 , 29 ] that identified similarly elevated levels of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep in student samples, our findings demonstrate that students are particularly vulnerable to the presence of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep given the mean scores obtained. Although the presence of unhelpful beliefs and attitudes about sleep does not directly result in insomnia, consistent with the cognitive model of insomnia [ 17 ], it may increase a student’s vulnerability to developing sleep-related disorders.…”

“…The DBAS-16 particularly targets the following sleep-disruptive cognitions: expectations about sleep requirements, attributions of the causes and appraisals of the consequences of insomnia, and issues of worry and helplessness about sleep [ 19 ]. The DBAS-16 has been used among university students where elevated levels of unhelpful beliefs and attitudes about sleep were identified [ 28 ]. Although there are no cut-off scores in the current scoring guidelines of the measure [ 19 ], previous research has identified that, using a 0–10 scale, total scores of 4 or higher may indicate unhelpful beliefs and expectations about sleep [ 21 , 29 , 30 ].…”

Gender differences affecting the relationship between sleep attitudes, sleep behaviors and sleep outcomes

“…Other work has found gender differences in sleep attitudes, sleep hygiene, and sleep practices (Chang & Choi, 2016;Dimakos et al, 2019;Joshi et al, 2015;A. R. Ruggiero et al, 2019), raising the possibility that gender must be taken into consideration to understand the mechanisms by which sleep attitude predict sleep practices and outcomes.…”

The Role of Dreaming in Affect Regulation

“…Shift workersi.e., students who work in restaurants/bars after midnight and students that have very irregular bedtimesi.e., going to bed more than twice a week 3 hours later than their normal bedtimewere also excluded, since an irregular bedtime schedule has a negative impact on sleep quality (Joshi et al, 2015;Kabrita et al, 2014;Kang & Chen, 2009;Li et al, 2016;Soehner et al, 2011).…”