Development and Validation of a Universal Sleep Screener for College Students

Abstract

Sleep problems are highly prevalent in adolescents, especially for college students. Students with poor sleep quantity and quality are at-risk for various academic, behavioral, and medical problems. Universal sleep hygiene screeners may help detect students who need more support with sleep habits and prevent future negative outcomes associated with inadequate sleep. Self-report data were collected from a sample of 292 university students on sleep hygiene behaviors and typical bedtimes and wake times using the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale, revised (ASHSr). Students also completed rating scales related to excessive daytime sleepiness and health-related quality of life factors. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a sleep hygiene questionnaire for the university setting (ASHS-College) was established. Items were further eliminated to create the ASHS-Screener. Based on a receiver operator characteristic analysis, the ASHS-College and ASHS-Screener yielded high diagnostic accuracy with a measure of excessive daytime sleepiness. An ASHS-College cut score of 3.07 and ASHS-Screener cut-score of 2.50 yielded adequate sensitivity and specificity, although the false-positive rate was high. Support for concurrent and convergent validity was observed through comparison with other self-reported data. Implications for research and practice are discussed.