ASSOCIATIONS OF SLEEP WITH LEARNING AND WELL-BEING IN ADOLESCENTS AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Sleep is important for students’ learning and well-being. In this thesis, I investigated relationships between chronotype and sleep health with learner behaviours, academic performance, and well-being. In Project 1, I show that morning-type university students score higher than their peers on non-cognitive attributes including conscientiousness, grit, self-regulated learning, persistent effort, self-control, self-efficacy, learning goals, intrinsic motivation, growth mindset for intelligence, and self-compassion. Morning-type students also had an earlier learning behaviour rhythm that was better aligned with their school schedule. These findings suggest that morning-type students have more favourable learner characteristics; however, chronotype was not associated with grade point average. In Project 2, I developed a Sleep Health And Wellness Questionnaire (SHAWQ) for use in adolescents and university students. The SHAWQ comprised 6 items selected based on their strength of association with depression symptoms: sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, staying up until 3:00 a.m., sleep latency, self-rated health, and gender. I show that poor sleep health on the SHAWQ was associated with sleep problems and depression scores in adolescents and university students, and lower academic performance in university freshmen. These findings suggest that the SHAWQ may be useful for identifying students who would benefit from counselling for sleep and mental health problems.

Sleep is important for students’ learning and well-being. In this thesis, I investigated relationships between chronotype and sleep health with learner behaviours, academic performance, and well-being. In Project 1, I show that morning-type university students score higher than their peers on non-cognitive attributes including conscientiousness, grit, self-regulated learning, persistent effort, self-control, self-efficacy, learning goals, intrinsic motivation, growth mindset for intelligence, and self-compassion. Morning-type students also had an earlier learning behaviour rhythm that was better aligned with their school schedule. These findings suggest that morning-type students have more favourable learner characteristics; however, chronotype was not associated with grade point average. In Project 2, I developed a Sleep Health And Wellness Questionnaire (SHAWQ) for use in adolescents and university students. The SHAWQ comprised 6 items selected based on their strength of association with depression symptoms: sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, staying up until 3:00 a.m., sleep latency, self-rated health, and gender. I show that poor sleep health on the SHAWQ was associated with sleep problems and depression scores in adolescents and university students, and lower academic performance in university freshmen. These findings suggest that the SHAWQ may be useful for identifying students who would benefit from counselling for sleep and mental health problems.