Correlation between Perceived State of Health and Sleep Quality among University Male Students

Objective: We investigated sleep quality and perceived state of health among university male students. Methods: We distributed 460 copies of two sets of questionnaire (the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI] and a scale of perceived state of health) to male freshmen at a public university in Taiwan. After eliminating invalid and incomplete questionnaires, we collected 410 valid questionnaires, producing a recovery rate of 89.13%. Results: Among background variables, ”part time work conditions” (p ＜ 0.001) and ”extracurricular studies or tutoring jobs” (p ＜ 0.01) were found to have significant influenced on sleep quality. Credit hour load (p ＜ 0.01) and perceived state of health (p ＜ 0.01) were significantly and positively correlated with sleep quality. Background variables could be used to effectively predict sleep quality and to explain 21% of total variance. Credit hour load hour (p ＜ 0.001) was the most significant predictor of sleep quality, followed in descending order by part time work conditions (p ＜ 0.001), extracurricular studies and tutoring jobs (p ＜ 0.01). Conclusion: Credit hour load hour was found to be a significant factor of influence on sleep. Students can effectively enhance their sleep quality by striving for a healthy balance between their existing course load and their part time work, extracurricular studies, and tutoring jobs.