Sleep Quality and Test Anxiety in Undergraduate Students: The Role of Gender and Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

This study was a cross-sectional, correlational study that aimed to look at the connection between overall sleep quality, test anxiety, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Data were collected from a sample of 400 undergraduate students (188 men and 212 women) via a Demographic Information Sheet, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Westside Test Anxiety Inventory. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that there was no relationship between sleep quality and test anxiety (r = -0.003, p = .957), while independent-samples t-tests presented no significant differences between men and women in sleep quality and test anxiety (p > .05). Nevertheless, one-way ANOVA showed that SES factors had a significant effect on sleep quality (F(2, 397) = 3.17, p = .043). Post hoc Tukey's HSD tests pointed out that students from middle SES experienced worse quality of sleep compared to students from lower SES (p = .035). On the contrary, there were no significant differences in test anxiety level among all SES categories (p = .457). The findings indicate that test anxiety is a universal stressor which is not dependent upon demographic factors. However, the perception of students regarding sleep quality is greatly influenced by socioeconomic factors, which show the necessity of implementing all necessary psychological support and counseling procedures at colleges.