Sleep, Alcohol, and Academic Performance in Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study sought to examine the relationship between sleep, alcohol, and academic performance in undergraduate students. Previous research has demonstrated relationships between study variables, however, sleep quality has largely been ignored as it relates to alcohol consumption and academic performance together. This study sought to add to the existing literature by examining how sleep quality was related to alcohol use and academic performance in a sample of 248 undergraduate students. A hierarchical regression was used to analyze the relationship between independent variables (sleep duration, sleepiness, alcohol consumption, and sleep quality) on the dependent variable (cumulative GPA). Additionally, a backward elimination regression was used to determine the best set of predictors for GPA. Results indicated that alcohol consumption and sleep variables were significantly associated with GPA and accounted for 5% of the variance in GPA. Furthermore, results showed that sleep quality, high school GPA, and academic standing were the best predictors of cumulative GPA. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.