Academic Performance, Employment, and Sleep Health: A Comparison between Working and Nonworking Students

Abstract

Interest in overall health and well-being of students in higher education has grown. Retention and success in college has been linked to various health aspects including sleep and alchol usage. The purpose of this study is to: 1) assess sleep health and related behaviors, 2) examine relationships between sleep health and work conditions, and 3) determine if there is a relationship between sleep health and academic performance. Because many students work in service industries due to the flexibility of these jobs, comparisons are made between students working in service industries, students working in other industries, and non-working students. The online survey data from 736 participants, representing six U.S. universities, was analyzed. Findings indicated that average grade point was associated with sleep, work hours, and household income; student employees working in the service industry had a sleep score slightly lower than students working elsewhere.

Determinants of Sleep Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study in University Students

“…Evidence from cross-sectional studies indicated that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds [44] and those that perceived themselves in dire financial situations [45] were significantly more likely to report disturbed sleep and poor sleep quality. In addition, research suggests that sleep quality is lower in working students compared to non-working students [45,46]. According to the authors, these factors are in some way linked: Financial needs make it necessary for some students to take on a job while simultaneously attending university, which increases the challenge of balancing work schedules, academic workload, and sleep.…”

The relationship between acquaintance with a SARS-CoV-2 death, positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, and sleep duration among college students in fall 2020

“…Covariates were age (continuous), sex (female vs. male) ( 25 ), race (African American/Black, Asian, more than one race, some other race, or White) ( 15 ), ethnicity (Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic/Latinx) ( 15 ), perceived general health (excellent, very good, good, fair/pair) ( 6 – 8 ), residence type (on-campus/dormitories vs. not on-campus/dormitories) ( 11 , 12 ), year in college (first, second, third, fourth, fifth or more) ( 10 ), total credit hours (≤12 vs. >12), having a job with in-person interaction (no vs. yes) ( 14 ), past 30-day nicotine use (no vs. yes) ( 27 ), alcohol use (no vs. yes) ( 28 ), depressive symptoms (CES-D-10; <10 vs. ≥10) ( 29 – 31 ), and perceived stress symptoms (PSS-10; continuous) ( 32 ), Additional information about the sociodemographic variables and questions asked in the baseline survey can be found in the Appendix .…”

“…Insufficient/short sleep duration is sleeping less than the recommended minimum 7 h for adults and can negatively affect an individual's overall health. Inadequate sleep duration has been linked to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, depression, and anxiety (6)(7)(8).…”

Career adaptation in higher education: a study with non-working and working students

“…For example, if we consider the Portuguese context where the average time spent on academic activities is around 42 h per week (European Commission, 2017) and a full-time worker is required to work at least 35 h per week, we conclude that the time left after a working day to dedicate to study and other activities (e.g., rest) is scarce, compared to the 42 h used by those who do not work. This may justify why studies comparing non-working with working students find more health problems (e.g., anxiety, emotional exhaustion), and worse levels of academic performance and satisfaction for the latter group (e.g., Santana and Salcedo, 2013;Tessema et al, 2014;Chiang et al, 2020). Literature indicates that working students are more susceptible to dropping out due to difficulties in the academic adaptation process (e.g., Hovdhaugen, 2015).…”