Moderating Role of Perseverative Negative Cognitions in the Association Between Academic Stress and Sleep

Quality sleep is paramount for the mental and physical health of university students and for their academic success. Stress was found to be a precipitator and a maintaining factor of poor sleep. Moreover, vulnerabilities in the student population may maintain and/or exacerbate a possible association between stress and sleep quality; one of which is the development or the existence of poor coping strategies to deal with stress, such as a propensity to engage in perseverative negative cognitions (PNCs). This study examined whether an increase in academic stress was related to a decrease in the sleep quality of university students. Additionally, moderation by two different PNCs (i.e., excessive worry and rumination) were expected, with high levels of PNCs associated with an exacerbation of the relationship between academic stress and sleep quality. Lastly, the unique contribution of the two PNCs to the moderation effect was explored. Cross-sectional data from 49 university students...Show moreQuality sleep is paramount for the mental and physical health of university students and for their academic success. Stress was found to be a precipitator and a maintaining factor of poor sleep. Moreover, vulnerabilities in the student population may maintain and/or exacerbate a possible association between stress and sleep quality; one of which is the development or the existence of poor coping strategies to deal with stress, such as a propensity to engage in perseverative negative cognitions (PNCs). This study examined whether an increase in academic stress was related to a decrease in the sleep quality of university students. Additionally, moderation by two different PNCs (i.e., excessive worry and rumination) were expected, with high levels of PNCs associated with an exacerbation of the relationship between academic stress and sleep quality. Lastly, the unique contribution of the two PNCs to the moderation effect was explored. Cross-sectional data from 49 university students were obtained using a series of questionnaires (Mage = 19.6 years, female = 95.9%). A simple regression analysis failed to indicate that an increase in academic stress predicts a decrease in sleep quality (p = .30). In addition, a hierarchical multiple regression failed to establish that PNCs moderate the relationship between academic stress and sleep quality (p = .18), suggesting that high levels of PNCs may not be associated with an exacerbation of the relationship. Furthermore, this study did not find evidence for the individual contribution of both types of PNCs to the moderation effect of PNCs in the association between academic stress and sleep quality (p = .28 for worry as a moderator; p = .47 for rumination as a moderator). These findings inform that academic stress might not share the same link with sleep difficulties as other types of stress have demonstrated. Furthermore, there is the possibility of additional concomitant difficulties (i.e., depression and anxiety) being relevant for the associations investigated, either as subsequent outcomes or as determinants of these associations. These findings provide a basis for future research on possible resistances experienced by this population and inform interventions that could help ameliorate sleep quality in university students.Show less

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Moderating Role of Perseverative Negative Cognitions in the Association Between Academic Stress and Sleep