Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Stress And Sleep Quality: Mediating Effects Of Social Support, Felisha L. Younkin, Elizabeth A. Axtell, Chelsea R. Anderton

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

Stress is defined as the “nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it” (Kohn & Frazer, 1986). Stress is among the top five threats to academic performance among college students (Pettit & DeBarr, 2011). The purpose of the study was to investigate whether stress affects perceived sleep quality, as mediated by social support, and to determine whether stress levels vary based on academic major. Using ANOVA in SPSS 24, we tested three hypotheses: stress and sleep quality are negatively correlated, social support mediates the relationship between stress and sleep quality, and stress levels will vary by academic …