College students’ socioeconomic background and sleep during the first year of college

Abstract

Objective

Sleep problems can hinder adjustment to college, but limited work has evaluated whether students’ socioeconomic background is related to changes in sleep across the first year of college. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether college-related financial stress, college generational status, and subjective social status were associated with differences in sleep across the first year of college.

Methods

A total of n = 216 first-year college students (M_Age = 18.1) at a public university were recruited for sleep quality assessment via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index during the fall, winter, and spring academic quarters, and a subsample (n = 198) of these students participated in 14 days of sleep diary assessment at the beginning and end of the academic year.

Results

Greater financial stress was significantly associated with worse sleep quality, more variable daily sleep duration, and greater difficulty waking up in the mornings. First-generation status was associated with poorer quality and more variable sleep, and worse subjective social status was linked to poor-quality sleep and greater difficulty awakening, but several of these associations were reduced after adjusting for ethnicity and gender. Mean-level socioeconomic indices did not interact with time, suggesting that between-person differences in sleep were consistent across the first academic year. Within-person increases in financial stress and subjective social status were associated with lower sleep variability.

Conclusion

The study findings reveal significant socioeconomic-related differences in first-year college students’ sleep behavior. Intervention efforts to address college students’ sleep health may benefit from connecting low-socioeconomic status students with resources to facilitate adjustment to college.