“Although reported sleep disorders in adults tend to increase with age, they may also occur among college students frequently enough to warrant screening this population.” Dr. Jane Gaultney made this apparent in her article, “The Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in College Students: Impact on Academic Performance.” This was her attempt to examine prevalence of risk for sleep disorders among college students, but she also wanted to explore gender, age, and race as possible factors affecting their grade point averages (1). Though, reports of sleep disorders in college students have far fewer reports of happening than those of individuals much older than them, it is still a mainstreaming problem with students carrying a heavy work load. Students have to understand that loss of sleep equals loss of performance in and outside of the classroom.
Gaultney took part in a case study in which 1,845 college students from a large, southeastern university were the subjects. The reasoning of the students to voluntarily participate in the study was merely extra credit for a psychology. Procedures were nothing more than a questionnaire, the Sleep-50 by Spoormaker et al, which was properly validated by college students. The study subjects were of a wide variety; 29% being male, 70% caucasion, 17% African American, 5% “other”, 4% Asian, and 4% were Latino students. They also varied in GPA, averaging 2.
77, and age, averaging 20.38 years. 46% were first year students, 26% were sophomores, 16% were juniors, and 10% were seniors. And the majority of the students considered themselves “evening” people.
(2)The results of the study found that over 500 of the students, roughly 27%, were at risk for at least one sleep disorder; which include narcolepsy, insomnia, RLS/PLMD, CRD, OSA, and hypersomnia. The study also showed that sleepwalking, nightmares, and SSM were not huge risks. An abstract of the results showed: Twenty-seven percent of students were at risk for at least one sleep disorder. African American and Asian students reported less risk for insomnia and fewer poor sleep practices relative to white and Latino students.
Students reported insufficient sleep and a discrepancy between weekday and weekend amount of sleep. Students at risk for sleep disorders were overrepresented among students in academic jeopardy (GPA < 2.0). Gaultney’s abstract of the results helps draw the conclusion that many college students are at risk for sleep disorders, and those at risk may also be at risk for academic failure.I feel as if the case study was a success in its own right, but I would have liked to see a more even range of participants.
For example, Gaultney used 70% caucasion students, but only 4% Asian students. She also used only 29% male subjects as well. This is a case in which random sampling worked against her. She wanted to test if age, gender, or race were factors in whether or not students get sleep disorders, thus she should have let each gender, race, and age group be represented equally.
Gaultney’s case study was an overall success minus the unequal representation of each group. She used a very wide range of grade point averages; and sleeping habits, luckily, came in wide range too. The results showed that students who have problems sleeping are often the ones with lower GPAs. Therefore, students who are at risk for sleep disorders are also at risk for poor performance inside the classroom.
