Association between Chronotype and Sleep Quality among Chinese College Students: The Role of Bedtime Procrastination and Sleep Hygiene Awareness

Yingying Zhu; Jiahao Huang; Minqi Yang

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010197

Association between Chronotype and Sleep Quality among Chinese College Students: The Role of Bedtime Procrastination and Sleep Hygiene Awareness

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 23;20(1):197. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010197.

Authors

Yingying Zhu^{1

2

3}, Jiahao Huang², Minqi Yang^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China.
² Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China.
³ Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin 300387, China.
⁴ School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
⁵ School of Marxism, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.

Abstract

Chronotype and sleep quality have been shown to play significant roles in influencing people's physical and mental health. The current study focuses on examining the relationship between chronotype and sleep quality among Chinese college students and exploring the mediating role of bedtime procrastination and the moderating role of sleep hygiene awareness. A sample of 2822 college students (female = 71.4%) aged between 17 and 29 years (M = 19.77, SD = 1.41) were included and completed the measures of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS) and Sleep Hygiene Awareness Scale (SHAS). The results showed that evening-type students reported the lowest sleep quality and highest levels of bedtime procrastination. In contrast, the highest sleep quality and lowest levels of bedtime procrastination were shown by morning-type, exhibiting the neither-type students' intermediate chronotype. Bedtime procrastination partially mediated the relationship between chronotype and sleep quality. Furthermore, sleep hygiene awareness moderated the direct effect of chronotype on sleep quality and the effect of chronotype in the path from chronotype to bedtime procrastination. Specifically, higher levels of sleep hygiene awareness could buffer the adverse effect of chronotype on self-reported sleep quality but bolstered the negative effect of chronotype on bedtime procrastination. Our results suggest that individuals with an evening preference are inclined to postpone their bedtime and further experience poorer sleep quality at night. Sleep hygiene awareness may serve as a protective factor for poor nocturnal sleep. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of reducing bedtime procrastination and improving sleep hygiene awareness in the interventions designed to help college students to own a better sleep quality, especially for those with evening chronotypes.

Keywords: bedtime procrastination; chronotype; college students; sleep hygiene awareness; sleep quality.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Chronotype
Circadian Rhythm
Female
Humans
Procrastination*
Sleep
Sleep Hygiene
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders*
Sleep Quality
Students / psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin City (grant number: TJJXQN19-006).