Differences In Dimensions Of Sleep Among LGBTQ College Students

Despite acceptance of LGBTQ individuals growing, limited research has been performed on this population. Therefore, we have little understanding of specific problems that may affect LGBTQ people. This study aims to help fill this gap by looking at the relationship between sexual orientation and sleep in heterosexual and LGBTQ American college students. We predicted that LGBTQ students would have poorer sleep quality and quantity, as well as greater stress, than heterosexual students. We also predicted that stress would partially explain the difference in sleep between the two populations. We collected sleep data using the Pittsburgh Sleep Scale (PSQI), a self-report questionnaire, and a wrist-worn accelerometer that tracks sleep and assessed stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Using t-tests and an ANCOVA, we found that LGBTQ students reported poorer sleep quality on self-report measures but found no differences in the sleep watch or diary data. We also found that LGBTQ students reported higher perceived stress than heterosexual students. The statistical main effect of sexual orientation for sleep quality was not significant when stress was used as a covariant, indicating that the difference in sleep by sexual orientation is likely a result of differences in stress or the perception of stress.