Sleep Quality and Its Associations with Physical and Mental Health-Related Quality of Life among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The association between sleep problems and quality of life has been well documented and the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly had an impact on both sleep quality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, recent evidence about this relationship among university students is limited. The aims of this study are to investigate the prevalence of poor sleep quality and insomnia and to explore the associations between these outcomes, perceived stress, and HRQoL among Italian university students. An anonymous questionnaire comprising the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Short Form-12 health survey, and the Perceived Stress Scale was administered to a convenience sample of 1279 students (1119 females and 160 males, mean age: 23.4 ± 2.5 years) attending one of the largest Italian universities. A total of 65% of the participants showed poor sleep quality, whereas 55% reported insomnia symptoms. Students reporting poor sleep quality and insomnia obtained higher perceived stress scores and lower physical and mental HRQoL scores. Controlling for health-related variables and perceived stress, hierarchical regression analyses showed that sleep quality components added a significant contribution to the prediction of both physical (ΔR2 = 0.1) and mental (ΔR2 = 0.02) HRQoL. As a whole, these findings confirm the relevance of sleep for university students’ well-being and might inform the development of health promotion interventions for this population.

Perceived Past and Current COVID-19-Stressors, Coping Strategies and Psychological Health among University Students: A Mediated-Moderated Model

“…Therefore, whereas several studies conducted worldwide before the pandemic have already warned about university students’ risk of reporting stress-related negative health outcomes [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], the more updated research addressing the impact of COVID-19 emergency has underlined an even higher health risk reported by students globally [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. In particular, research has highlighted that university students who perceived high levels of specific COVID-19-related stressors (i.e., stress related to changes in Relationships and Academic Life, Isolation, and Fear of Contagion) were at high risk for reporting several stress-related negative outcomes, such as cognitive impairment [ 21 ], psychophysical disorders [ 22 , 23 ] and poor mental health [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Sleep Quality and Insomnia Severity among Italian University Students: A Latent Profile Analysis

“…The study design was cross-sectional, and the research procedure was reported in detail previously [ 38 ]. Data were collected via an anonymous online survey delivered to students from Sapienza University of Rome through the Google Forms platform from March 2021 to June 2021.…”

Developing and validating a university needs instrument to measure the psychosocial needs of university students

“…For example, Ban and Lee (2001) found that even when university students had sufficient sleep duration (i.e., objective), more than 30% of the sample reported having insufficient sleep (subjective). Further, subjective sleep quality has been associated with perceptions of quality of life, physical health and psychological health (Carpi et al, 2022;Putilov et al, 2021;Simor et al, 2015). Indeed, studies have identified a relationship between university students' subjective sleep quality and their emotional states (Ahammed et al, 2021;Arbinaga et al, 2018;Simor et al, 2015;Norbury & Evans, 2019).…”