Title of publication
Exploring poor sleep, mental health, and help-seeking intention in university students
Abstract
Objective: University students experience common mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress along with poor-sleep quality. This study explores the relationships between these concepts and help-seeking intention in a generalAustralian university student population. The primary aim was to examine the moderating effects of sleep quality on help-seeking intention for common mental health problems. The secondary aim was to examine sex differences in help-seeking behaviour. Method: University students, between 18 and 55 years of age ( M = 30.18, SD = 11.37, N = 117) of which 98 were female, completed an on-line survey assessing help-seeking intentions, common mental health problems, and sleep quality. Results: High levels of depression, anxiety, and stress were signi fi cantly associated with decreased sleep quality or decreased help-seeking intention. A multiple regression analysis predicted that students were more likely to report intention to seek help if they had lower scores of depression, but higher scores of stress. Help-seeking intention levels were lower for males than females. Poor-sleep quality was not found to be a moderator of help-seeking intention. Conclusion: Although the proposed moderation effect of poor-sleep quality on the relationship between common mental health problems and help-seeking intention was not supported, the study advanced our knowledge of university students ’ low intention to seek help, despite high scores of poor-sleep quality. Implications for on-campus interventions and raising awareness among students about these issues are discussed.
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