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The Effects Of Lack Of Sleep On Adolescents And Children

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Due to reports of the consequences of lack of sleep in adolescents and children (i.e. Alfano et al., 2007; Gregory et al., 2005; Link & Ancoli-Israel, 1995; Meijer et al., 2000; Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998), the current study aimed to establish whether variations in sleep significantly affected the well-being and academic attainment of university students. It was hypothesised that those students with insufficient sleep would experience negative effects to their well-being and achieve poorer grades in university, and this would remain when controlling for the established predictors of both well-being and academic attainment. Analysis indicated that the 11 sleep questions could be divided into four independent factors, i.e. tiredness and …show more content…

This is also consistent with previous research showing that poor sleepers experience numerous negative impacts on their well-being and functioning (Buboltz et al., 2001). Previous research has suggested that sleep problems are related to anxiety disorders. Indeed, Gregory and colleagues (2005) found that children with sleep disorders early in life were significantly more likely to present with an anxiety disorder 20 years later. In the analysis presented here, it was found that self-reported anxiety was significantly associated with tiredness and concentration and diminished sleep quality in this student sample, which supports the hypothesis that those who have insufficient sleep will experience negative effects to their well-being. Therefore, poor sleep can negatively affect anxiety outcomes in university students as well as in children. Furthermore, this research was interested to discover whether poor sleep was associated with a specific aspect of negative well-being: depression. Results showed that subjective depression was significantly associated with tiredness and concentration, and negatively correlated with sleep quality and daytime sleepiness, which supports the research hypothesis and previous reports of this association. For example, Pilcher and colleagues (1997) reported that individuals with poor sleep quality who experience daytime sleepiness

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