Sleep Quality, Stress, Cognitive Pre-Sleep Arousal, and Coping
Description
We provide an SPSS dataset used to prepare a research article entitled "Stress and Sleep Quality in University Students: The Role of Cognitive Pre-Sleep Arousal and Coping." The following abstract provides an overview of our aims, findings, and limitations: High amounts of stress as well as sleep disturbances are common among students, with higher perceived stress being associated with poorer sleep quality. It is also known that higher stress increases cognitive pre-sleep arousal (PSA) and that PSA mediates the stress-sleep relationship. Furthermore, it has been proposed that coping styles (in particular, problem-oriented coping) moderate the relationship between stress and PSA. To further investigate this empirical evidence, we conducted an online study analyzing the influence of cognitive PSA and problem-oriented coping on the stress-sleep relationship suggesting a moderated mediation model. A total of N = 220 university students (174 female, 43 male, 3 diverse; age: M = 25.15 years) with diverse subjects of study completed self-report measures of stress (Perceived Stress Questionnaire), subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), cognitive pre-sleep arousal (Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale), and problem-oriented coping (Stress and Coping Inventory). As expected, higher perceived stress predicted poorer subjective sleep quality. Furthermore, cognitive PSA partially mediated the link between stress and sleep quality. However, contrary to expectations, problem-oriented coping did not moderate the association between stress and cognitive PSA. Interestingly, an exploratory serial mediation model indicated that problem-oriented coping decreases stress (first mediator) and that stress predicts cognitive PSA (second mediator), which in turn predicts poorer subjective sleep quality. These findings suggest that the effect of problem-oriented coping on subjective sleep-quality is indirect, being completely mediated by stress and cognitive PSA. According to the present data, the role of problem-oriented coping for the stress-sleep relationship may lie in reducing stress initially, rather than directly influencing the relationship between stress and cognitive PSA. Limitations, recommendations for future research, and practical implications are discussed, including the role of stress and sleep for physical and mental health and the importance of stress management as well as sleep focused interventions.
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Steps to reproduce
The data were collected as part of a larger research project conducted as an online study. We used the survey software Unipark (Tivian XI GmbH; https://www.unipark.com). The entire questionnaire contained additional questions concerning students’ physical and mental health, well-being, emotions, and personality traits (e.g., perfectionism). For the present data, we used the German versions of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (cognitive pre-sleep arousal subscale only), and the Stress and Coping Inventory (active coping subscale only). Completing the full survey took approximately 40 minutes, with about 15 minutes dedicated to measures relevant to the current study (i.e., stress, sleep quality, cognitive PSA, problem-oriented coping, and demographic characteristics). Except for the assessment of problem-oriented coping (active coping), students were instructed to base their responses on the past four weeks. There were no missing values, as participants were prevented from advancing to the next section of the survey until all items in the previous section had been completed. A cross-sectional design was employed. The study was approved by the university’s local ethics committee. Participants were recruited via university email lists, announcements in lectures, and social media. In addition, the research platform SurveyCircle (https://www.survecircle.com/de) was used to expand the recruitment reach. Prior to participation, students provided informed consent. Anonymity and confidentiality were maintained throughout the study. Participants were excluded if they were younger than 18 years or reported being in an acute phase of a mental disorder (e.g., depression, an anxiety disorder, or schizophrenia). Five participants were excluded because of implausible data (e.g., an unrealistic time in bed), and one participant was excluded because of an extreme upper outlier in sleep quality. Upper outliers were defined as values exceeding the third quartile plus three times the interquartile range (>𝑄3+3×𝐼𝑄𝑅>Q3+3×IQR). The final sample comprised N=220 participants. Statistical analyses (analyses of reliability, descriptive statistics, correlations, regressions) were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 31; IBM Corp., 2025). Additionally, for the moderated mediation analysis as well as for an exploratory serial mediation analysis, we used the PROCESS macro (Version 4.3) for SPSS (Hayes, 2022). Path models and corresponding fit indices were estimated using IBM SPSS Amos (Version 31; IBM Corp., 2025). We collected and reported the data in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines, which are also applicable to cross-sectional research in psychology (von Elm et al., 2007). We adhered to the STROBE-checklist during manuscript preparation to ensure transparent and comprehensive reporting (https://www.strobe-statement.org).
Institutions
- Chemnitz University of TechnologySaxony, Chemnitz