The Role of Sleep Quality in the Psychological Well-Being of Final Year UndergraduateStudents in China

Abstract

There are increasing numbers of university students in China suffering from poor sleep and psychological well-being problems. In particular, the issues are more severe among the final year undergraduate students, because they are experiencing a transitory period from university life to the workplace. However, extant research has rarely explored sleep quality and psychological well-being of final year university students. To better understand the role of sleep quality in psychological well-being, we examined the association between different sleep quality and mental health. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 2495 full-time final year university students in China, we employed multivariable logistic regression to assess association between sleep quality and psychological well-being by controlling for sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, education, marital or relationship status, household conditions, place of birth, study subjects and etc. According to the research results, we can find strong association between sleep quality and psychological well-being. Having normal sleep quality is associated with lower level of psychological well-being problems. By contrast, poor sleep quality is associated with high level of negative psychological well-being. Poor sleep quality has higher potency than normal sleep quality due to negative bias. Among covariates, age, gender and education have significant effects on psychological well-being.

Sleep, Well-Being and Academic Performance: A Study in a Singapore Residential College

“…Our analysis, however, revealed that sleep duration has a positive association with psychological well-being, a result that is consistent with the findings of Richter (2015). Similarly, just as Zhai et al (2018) found a strong relationship between sleep quality and psychological well-being, our univariate analysis showed that sleep efficiency and overall sleep quality are significantly and positively correlated with the same. Our multivariate analysis nevertheless informs that the positive association between overall sleep quality and psychological well-being is only true for above average levels of the latter.…”

“…Problems in their sleep environment may include noise and roommates’ different habits ( Qin and Brown, 2017 ). The demands to contribute to the communal life of the hall and to integrate socially in its high-density living environment ( Zhai et al, 2018 ), the stress from short-term academic workload and long-term anxiety related to independent adult life ( Lemma et al, 2012 ; Laidlaw et al, 2016 ), and the lack of knowledge and practice of good sleep hygiene ( Suen et al, 2010 ; Dinis and Braganca, 2018 ), further add to these problems. Not surprisingly, university students are viewed as being chronically sleep-deprived ( Curcio et al, 2006 ; Fonseca and Genzel, 2020 ).…”

“… Richter (2015) found sleep deprivation to be negatively correlated with psychological well-being within a university student population. Zhai et al (2018) , taking into exam the role of sleep quality in the psychological well-being of final year undergraduate students, reported that poor sleep quality is associated with high levels of negative psychological well-being. Similarly, in a study involving subjects of age 18 and above (the majority being students), Freitag et al (2017) found that sleep disturbances were related to decreased levels of psychological well-being.…”

Sleep Duration, Sleep Quality and Physical Activity, but Not Sedentary Behaviour, Are Associated with Positive Mental Health in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population: A Cross-Sectional Evaluation

“…Longer sleep duration has been associated with positive affect, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance [ 27 , 36 ], all of which have conceptual equivalence with the three PMH sub-components associated with sleep duration in our study. It is proposed that ‘feeling well rested’ due to adequate and better sleep could yield a more energetic self, capable of reaching personal goals and being socially connected with others [ 27 , 37 ]. Our findings, thus, provide support to the favourable association between sleep duration, sleep quality and mental health…”

The Impacts of Air Pollution on Mental Health: Evidence from the Chinese University Students

“…In addition, this study also observed the socio-demographic and health characteristics of respondents, as these may affect their experiences and perceptions of metal health. In this study, the socio-demographic covariates were age [34], gender, monthly living expenses [12], educational level [35,36], place of birth [37], and subjects studied at undergraduate level. Moreover, the study controlled for the self-rated health of respondents and whether they had any instrumental daily living activities and/or limitations in relation to these activities, because prior research has indicated that these factors affect perceptions of mental health and well-being [38].…”