Poster #98 - Sleep Onset Latency During the Transition to College

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

The transition to college is a momentous time for emerging adults (EA). For some, the obstacles faced when making the transition to college exceed their coping resources and lead to significant social, emotional, and academic distress (see Leong, Bonz, and Zachar, 1997). Sleep disturbance is one of the ways that stress manifests during times of transition. Sleep disturbance puts individuals at risk for a variety of physical and mental health problems (Milojevich & Lukowski, 2016; Okun, 2011). Sleep onset latency (SOL), or the amount of time that it takes an individual to fall asleep and reach the second stage of sleep, is a specific type of sleep disturbance affecting between 35-40% of the population (Hossain, & Shapiro, 2002). While SOL is a common problem that is related to overall sleep quality, we know relatively little about SOL. The purpose of the current study is to better understand the correlates of SOL during the transition to college. We hypothesize that positive college adjustment and greater family and social support will be associated with shorter SOL.
Emerging adults’ family environment may be a source of support during the transition to college. A cohesive family facilitates adaptive functioning (Minuchin, 1974), providing the emerging adult with a “secure base” while managing her new college environment (Johnson, Gans, Kerr, & Deegan, 2008). Based on findings suggesting that the quality of family functioning moderates the relationship between stress and college adjustment (Gans & Johnson, 2016), we also test the hypothesis that family functioning moderates the relationship between SOL and EA adjustment to college.
Method and Preliminary Results
The present study follows 100 EA participants (17-19 years) making the transition to college. Participants completed three 60 minute assessments during their first year in college: summer prior to starting college, fall, and spring semester. Student participants completed questionnaires assessing sleep onset latency (PSQ, Buysse et al., 1989), family environment (FES, Moos & Moos, 2009), social support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 1988), and college adjustment (SACQ, Baker & Siryk, 1984). During the pre-college assessment, parents joined their EA offspring in the laboratory for a 20-minute family interaction task that was later coded using the FSAP system (see Johnson & Gans, 2016).
Preliminary results confirm our hypothesis that greater college adjustment will be associated with shorter SOL (r = -0.32, p<0.05 academic; r = -0.36, p<0.05 social; r = -0.36, p<0.05 emotional) and that greater family and social support will be associated with shorter SOL (r = -0.28, p<0.05 social; r = -0.27, p<0.05 family). Using a 3X2 mixed ANOVA we find a significant time X gender interaction (F(1,72) = 4.39, p<0.05) we find that SOL stays stable for women but is variable for men across the college transition year. Family cohesion makes a significant contribution to explaining change in SOL during the transition to college (R2 = 0.56, p<0.01; t = -1.95, p <0.05). Additional analyses will further test our last hypothesis that family functioning moderates the relationship between SOL and EA adjustment.

Authors

• Brooke N Miller, West Chester University
  Presenting Author

• Vanessa Kahen Johnson, West Chester University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan E Gans, West Chester University
  Non-Presenting Author