Assessing Sleep Hygiene Awareness Among Emerging Adults Utilizing a Brief Vignette

Abstract

Emerging adults may have misconceptions about how sleep hygiene behaviors affect sleep quality, suggesting they may not be aware of what is considered unhealthy sleep hygiene. Vignettes provide a unique approach to understanding sleep hygiene awareness in emerging adults, as no known studies have used this approach. The current study aimed to assess the utility of a vignette to identify emerging adults’ awareness of negative sleep hygiene behaviors. A community sample of emerging adults completed an online survey including a demographics questionnaire, the Sleep Health Index® (SHI), the Sleep Hygiene Questionnaire (SHQ), and a vignette measure of sleep hygiene awareness. Findings revealed that emerging adults overall may lack awareness about maladaptive sleep hygiene behaviors; however, they were more knowledgeable about daytime napping and caffeine consumption. Sleep hygiene awareness was also significantly correlated with subscales of the SHI and SHQ. Women demonstrated higher sleep hygiene awareness, poorer sleep quality, and poorer sleep hygiene than men. This was the first study to develop a vignette to assess sleep hygiene awareness and is a promising method that may be useful in tailoring sleep hygiene interventions for emerging adults.