Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2023

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Sarah Bilsky

Second Advisor

Carey Dowling

Third Advisor

Grace Rivera

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This study sought out to examine the association between sleep and relationship quality in undergraduate student populations. Attending university is a novel experience for emerging adults but is subsequently associated with increased sleep difficulties and increased exposure to various social relationships. Indeed, the literature suggests social relationships can influence sleep in all populations, but few have explored relationship quality in the context of conflict and support in undergraduates. The quality of different social relationships (romantic, family, and friend), the severity of insomnia symptoms, and length of sleep duration were investigated. The current study collected data from a sample of ten undergraduate students (n = 3 men, n = 6 women, and n = 1 declined to report) between the ages of 18 and 23 years (Mage = 19.89; SD = 1.90) who were recruited from the undergraduate SONA psychology pool at the University of Mississippi. Results of the study suggested a positive association between friendship conflict and insomnia symptoms, consistent with the third subsection of the third hypothesis. Other types of relationship conflict and support were not found to be significantly correlated with insomnia symptoms or sleep duration, contrary to the other hypotheses. This study establishes initial evidence for future research to analyze the significance of friendship conflict’s effects on sleep in the lives of undergraduate students.

Accessibility Status

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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