Relationships Between Sleep Quality, Sleep Hygiene, and Psychological Distress In University Student-Athletes

Abstract

Post-secondary student-athletes are one of the most vulnerable populations that experience poor sleep quality, which has detrimental effects on psychological distress due to the strong relationship between sleep quality and psychological distress. Research suggests that by improving sleep hygiene behaviours an individual can improve sleep quality, which will improve psychological distress. Few studies have examined sleep quality, sleep hygiene and psychological distress together among a post-secondary population and none have investigated a student-athlete population. The present study examined if sleep hygiene mediates the relationship between sleep quality and psychological distress among post-secondary student-athletes. A sample of 94 student-athletes completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale (Buyess et al., 1989; Kessler et al., 2002; Lin, Cheng, Yang, & Hsu, 2007). A mediation model was used to examine the relationships between the variables using the global scores. Bootstrapping was conducted to increase power of the model, which resulted in confidence interval levels that did not include zero indicating the indirect effect is significant and sleep hygiene mediates the relationship between sleep quality and psychological distress. This study can implicate future studies regarding sleep hygiene interventions changing the lifestyle habits and behaviours affecting their sleep hygiene, which is shown to impact sleep quality and psychological distress. In conclusion, Sleep hygiene mediated the relationship between sleep quality and psychological distress.