Hoelfelmann et al.

(2006) Factors affecting sleep

in high school
students.

Pearl, Sourav, Sarrah

Introduction and Aim

• Sleep is considered to be a key factor for learning and memory, and it is directly involved in
hormonal and behavioural regulation.
• Studies have demonstrated that there is a high prevalence of insufficient sleep duration and
poor sleep quality among young people, which may be due to the biological and maturational
factors that occur during adolescence, as well as behavioural changes such as increasing
school obligations, social activities and excessive use of electronic equipment.
• This study investigates the correlation between behavioural variables and sleep quality/
duration using cross-sectional data and prospective associations.

Aim = The study aimed to investigate factors affecting sleep in high

school students. It aimed to investigate the effects of life style factors
on the quality of sleep in high school students, in order to verify that
the two are associated.

Procedure
 Target Population: 14-24 years
 Population: 2000 Students
 At the start of the study 2000 students were
randomly selected from 20 schools, and 989
students completed the initial assessment and
the post-intervention assessment.
..................................
 Longitudinal Approach - A type of
correlational research study that involves
looking at variables over an extended period of
time.  Almost never and Never.
 949 students giving data about sleep quality
and 950 students giving data about sleep
duration.
 Hoefelmann et al. used this data to study the
amount of negative sleep quality and
insufficient sleep duration due to factors such
as playing video games(unexposed students)
and due to lifestyle factors such as eating
snacks (prospective data).
Randomized Control Trial-
Subjects are randomly
assigned to one of two groups.
- Used to promote healthy
behaviours, analysed data
using this method.
The students answered a questionnaire, on two separate occasions, about physical
activity, eating habits, sleep duration and quality, and other lifestyle factors, such
as alcohol consumption.
(Nine-month gap between the applications of each questionnaire – 1 and 2)
- The questionnaire included 2 questions regarding sleep quality and duration:
o Sleep Quality = “How often do you think you sleep well?”
Positive Answers – Always and Almost always/ Negative Answers – Sometimes,
o Sleep Duration = “How many hours, on average, do you sleep per day?”
Positive Answers – 8 or more hours/ Negative Answers – Less than 8 hours.
Lifestyle factors were measured through the number of times students exercised in
a week (for strength and endurance as well) ; the amount of time per day spent
watching television and playing computer games, how many snacks and soft drinks
were consumed in a week, and the how may days alcohol was drunk in the last
month.
 Five in every 10 students
said they had poor sleep
quality and eight in

Results of the study every ten said they did

not get enough sleep,
these figures remained
the same over the nine-
month period.

• Students who did not do muscular

strength/endurance exercise, who often ate
snacks and who watched excessive amounts of Prospective Study:
television were less likely to say they did not Research that starts
get enough sleep. with the present
and follows
participants forward
• Students who played excessive amounts of in time to examine
computer games were more likely to say they trends, predictions,
and outcomes.
did not get enough sleep. However, when the
results were adjusted for confounders no
behaviour was associated with the amount of
sleep the students said they had.
In the prospective
• It was found that the frequency of physical analysis none of the
activity was associated with poor sleep quality; behaviours could
watching television was positively associated predict either sleep
with the amount of sleep per night; frequent quality or duration.
snack and soft drink consumption were
associated with poor sleep quality and reduced
amount of sleep.
 Conclusion

Conclusion:
1. It was concluded that if it was perceived that quality of sleep was poor and
sleep duration was not enough that this perception remained stable over
time.
2. The cross-sectional analysis shows that some behaviours are associated
with sleep quality and duration, this was not confirmed by the prospective
analysis.
 Strengths
This study had a large sample. The sample was 989 students
which is likely to be representative of many teenagers in Brazil,
Strengths and Weaknesses
and a large sample often cancels out any anomalies (rogue data)
of someone who sleeps a lot or very little.
The same questionnaire was used first and then in the follow up
study nine months later. This shows standardized procedures
and consistency, which makes it reliable.
A randomized control trial randomly assigns participants into
either the control or experimental group. Random allocation in
a psychological sample that has many participants (like this one)
are likely to be an unbiased, representative sample of society
Supporting Studies: Peracchia et al (2018) found that prolonger
exposed to video games resulted in insufficient and poorer sleep
quality
Weaknesses
Generalisability - However, this study had participants
originating only in Brazil, South America. Therefore, it cannot
be generalized to all teenagers across the world, who may be
exposed to different cultures (around sleeping patterns),
environments and light outside.
However, there is the possibility of order effects and demand
characteristics with any repeated measures design. This means
that as the students have to complete the same measure again,
they may become tired and/or guess the aim of the study,
which impacts the validity of results
However, as is the case with any self report questionnaire,
there is a large problem with honesty. Participants may not
answer honestly and therefore the result is an invalid result,
this could be down to ´social desirability´ where a participant
reports not the truth, but what the Psychologist may want to
see or hear (i.e not feeding back on all the sugary food they
have been eating, due to embarrassment)
Unsupporting Studies: A longitudinal study of adolescents from
Minnesota (United States) completing a similar study showed a
reduction in the average sleep duration of approximately 30
minutes after 24 months of follow-up