A National Examination of Sleep Health and Wellness for Student Veterans

• In Event: Adult Literacy, Health, and Well-Being

Abstract

This study utilized data from the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) to examine sleep health and behavior for college student-veterans. We first used propensity score matching to establish an analogous group of non-veterans from the 156,150 survey responses. We compared student-veterans to an older non-traditional peer group (n= 1335) to isolate military service impacts on sleep health. Veterans were classified as those who served in hazardous duty (n = 1375), and those who did not (n = 1711). We utilized multivariate analysis of covariance (3x7 MANCOVA with covariates) to compare mean scores on seven items measuring sleep patterns/health. Significant differences were found across analyses, with veterans reporting higher instances of sleep difficulties and academic impacts from sleep related issues.

Authors

• Phillip Morris, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs

• Kathryn Watson, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs

• Patience Agana, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

• Dale Willson, Colorado College

• Keston Lindsay