Out of their control: College students’ beliefs in sleep myths, sleep problems, and psychological flexibility

Objectives

College students suffer from deficient sleep, and the pernicious factors that support this phenomenon are diverse. The aim of the current study was to better understand the role of sleep-related myths in college students’ sleep disturbance. A second aim was to examine if college students’ levels of sleep disturbance were similarly associated with their belief in sleep-related myths or if their capacity to be psychologically flexible might moderate this process.

Methods

The online sample consisted of 638 undergraduates (82.4% female; M_age = 21.3, SD = 1.6 years), who reported on their level of belief in sleep-related myths, sleep disturbance, sleep environment, sleep hygiene, and psychological flexibility.

Results

Controlling for critical sleep-related correlates, including melatonin usage, work hours and perceived sleep-related self-efficacy, we found that for students with below-average (− 1 SD) psychological flexibility, the greater their belief in the myth that their sleep schedules were out of their control was associated with greater levels of sleep disturbance.

Conclusions

These results not only highlight another important source of college students’ sleep problems, but they also speak to the widespread belief that college students have little control over their sleep. Findings from the current study raise the possibility that by developing students’ capacities to be more psychologically flexible and by empowering students to prioritize their sleep, they will be able to decrease the likelihood of experiencing sleep and sleep-related problems.