Thesis Title: Academic Stress, Quality of Sleep and Mental Health of College Science Students
Student Name: Aimen Faruki
Supervisors: Ghulam Ishaq & Rafia Rafique, PhD
Degree: BS
Year: 2014-2018
Department: Institute of Applied Psychology
University: Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the relationship among academic stress, quality of sleep and mental health problems of college science students. It was hypothesized that academic stress would have positive relationship with poor sleep quality and mental health problems (operationalized as anxiety and depression) and a positive significant relationship of poor sleep quality with mental health problems was also hypothesized. It was also hypothesized that academic stress would have indirect effect on mental health problems through poor quality of sleep. Correlational research design was used to examine the proposed hypothesis. The sample of this study was college science students and it comprised of 72 male and 78 female students with an age range of 16 to 19 years (M = 17.21, SD = 0.80) drawn through purposive sampling strategy. Urdu translated version of Educational Stress Scale for Adolescent (Sun, Dunne, Hou, & Xu, 2011), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, & Kupfer, 1989) were used to collect information for academic stress, mental health problems and poor sleep quality, respectively. The result indicated that academic stress had significant positive co-relation with mental health problems and poor sleep quality whereas poor sleep quality also has a positive significant relationship with mental health problems. A mediation analysis through AMOS showed that academic stress has indirect effect on mental health problems through poor quality of sleep. Academic stress and poor quality of sleep has a negative impact on mental health of students through several ways. More research should be conducted to identify factors that make student’s mental health poor.
Keywords: Academic stress, quality of sleep, mental health, science students.
