0232 An Intraindividual Variability of Sleep Health and Perceived Stress in College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Pandemic-related societal response and uncertainty have generated marked changes in sleep-wake patterns and psycho-social well-being especially among first year college students. The current study sough to describe the changes in the sleep health domains determined from Actigraph and self-report, and examine the associations between the repeated-measure and intraindividual variability (IIV) of these domains and perceived stress in young college students over the course of a semester in the midst of an on-going COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., Fall, 2020). Methods A repeated measure design at 1-month interval across a 3-month period was conducted among a group of diverse racial and ethnic groups of college students (N=23, 78.3% female, age range 17-18). Participants completed a 7-days of wrist Actigraph, daily sleep diaries, and other surveys at each interval. A multidimensional sleep health was determined using Actigraph and daily sleep diary measures of sleep duration, efficiency, timing and regularity, and self-reported surveys of sleep satisfaction and alertness during daytime. Participants also completed the Perceived Stress Scale. Non-parametric tests were used to assess the changes in sleep health across 3 intervals, and a series of linear mixed effects model and regression analysis were conducted to assess associations between stress and subjective sleep health, adjusting for sex. Results Actigraph-determined sleep timing and regularity, and sleep diary-determined sleep timing and alertness during daytime demonstrated statistically significant changes between given timepoints. Among the sleep diary-determined sleep health domains, greater perceived stress was associated with more irregular (B=2.25 [.87–3.62], p<.001), more dissatisfied (B=.04 [.02–.19], p<.01), and sleepier during daytime (B=.18 [.05–.31], p<.001), across 3 timepoints. Moreover, greater perceived stress was associated with greater IIV (i.e., fluctuations) in sleep satisfaction, but no significance was found among IIV of other domains. Conclusion This study aids understanding of the relationship between stress and sleep health in this population, and offers insight to future research questions that can facilitate intervention development to promote both mental and sleep health among young college students. Support (If Any)