Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students
A substantial body of research indicates that higher education students from lower social class backgrounds tend to have poorer health than those from higher social class backgrounds. To investigate sleep as a potential mediator of this relationship, online survey responses of students from five lar...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93200 |
| _version_ | 1848765710104264704 |
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| author | McGuffog, R. Rubin, M. Boyes, Mark Caltabiano, M.L. Collison, J. Lovell, G.P. Muldoon, O. Paolini, S. |
| author_facet | McGuffog, R. Rubin, M. Boyes, Mark Caltabiano, M.L. Collison, J. Lovell, G.P. Muldoon, O. Paolini, S. |
| author_sort | McGuffog, R. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | A substantial body of research indicates that higher education students from lower social class backgrounds tend to have poorer health than those from higher social class backgrounds. To investigate sleep as a potential mediator of this relationship, online survey responses of students from five large Australian universities, one Irish university and one large Australian technical college were analysed in three studies (Study 1 N = 628; Study 2 N = 376; Study 3 N = 446). The results revealed that sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbances, pre-sleep worries and sleep schedule variability mediated the relationship between social class and physical and mental health. Sleep remained a significant mediator when controlling for related variables and other mediators. Thus, the findings suggest that sleep partly explains social class differences in health. We discuss the importance of addressing sleep issues among students from lower social class backgrounds. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:39:34Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-93200 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:39:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-932002023-10-06T06:01:21Z Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students McGuffog, R. Rubin, M. Boyes, Mark Caltabiano, M.L. Collison, J. Lovell, G.P. Muldoon, O. Paolini, S. mediation mental health physical health sleep social class Humans Australia Students Social Class Mental Health Sleep Wake Disorders Sleep Universities Humans Mental Health Sleep Social Class Students Universities Australia Sleep Wake Disorders A substantial body of research indicates that higher education students from lower social class backgrounds tend to have poorer health than those from higher social class backgrounds. To investigate sleep as a potential mediator of this relationship, online survey responses of students from five large Australian universities, one Irish university and one large Australian technical college were analysed in three studies (Study 1 N = 628; Study 2 N = 376; Study 3 N = 446). The results revealed that sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbances, pre-sleep worries and sleep schedule variability mediated the relationship between social class and physical and mental health. Sleep remained a significant mediator when controlling for related variables and other mediators. Thus, the findings suggest that sleep partly explains social class differences in health. We discuss the importance of addressing sleep issues among students from lower social class backgrounds. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93200 10.1111/bjop.12645 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | mediation mental health physical health sleep social class Humans Australia Students Social Class Mental Health Sleep Wake Disorders Sleep Universities Humans Mental Health Sleep Social Class Students Universities Australia Sleep Wake Disorders McGuffog, R. Rubin, M. Boyes, Mark Caltabiano, M.L. Collison, J. Lovell, G.P. Muldoon, O. Paolini, S. Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title | Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title_full | Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title_fullStr | Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title_short | Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| title_sort | sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students |
| topic | mediation mental health physical health sleep social class Humans Australia Students Social Class Mental Health Sleep Wake Disorders Sleep Universities Humans Mental Health Sleep Social Class Students Universities Australia Sleep Wake Disorders |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93200 |