Stress and Burnout Among Graduate Students: Moderation by Sleep Duration and Quality

Abstract

Background: There are high levels of stress among graduate students, and stress is associated with multiple negative outcomes among student populations, including academic burnout. Sleep could play an important role in explaining the association between stress and burnout, but these relationships have not been explored among the graduate student population. The current study assessed whether or not sleep duration and quality moderated the relationship between stress and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy) among graduate students.

Methods: A sample of 2683 master's, doctoral, and professional graduate students from two large, public universities completed an online survey. Linear regression models with interaction terms were developed to evaluate the relationships between stress and burnout while examining moderation by sleep duration and quality.

Results: Participants slept an average of 6.4 h per night, with 62% indicating good sleep quality. Stress had significant, positive relationships with exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. The relationship between stress and exhaustion lessened as sleep duration increased, and the relationship between stress and exhaustion was weaker among students with good sleep quality when compared with those with poor sleep quality. Neither sleep duration nor sleep quality moderated the relationships between stress and cynicism or stress and inefficacy.

Conclusions: Improving sleep habits has the potential to lessen the negative association between stress and graduate student functioning. Future research utilizing longitudinal designs is needed to understand the temporality of these associations and the influence of possible co-factors like individual propensity for mental health problems and social support.

Keywords: Burnout; Graduate students; Sleep; Stress.

Figure 1.. The relationship between stress and exhaustion: Moderation by sleep duration

Note. This figure represents a significant (p<0.001) moderation of the relationship between stress and exhaustion by sleep duration, such that the association between stress and exhaustion lessened as sleep duration increased. Perceived stress scores range from 0 to 40 and exhaustion scores range from 0 to 6. Breaks in the graph are present at stress and exhaustion scores that did not exist in the data. Although measured continuously, sleep duration was separated into “less than 7 hours” and “7+ hours” for visual representation purposes.

Figure 2.. The relationship between stress and exhaustion: Moderation by sleep quality

Note. This figure represents a significant (p<0.001) moderation of the relationship between stress and exhaustion by sleep quality, such that the association between stress and exhaustion was weaker among students with good sleep quality when compared with those with poor sleep quality. Perceived stress scores range from 0 to 40 and exhaustion scores range from 0 to 6. Breaks in the graph are present at stress and exhaustion scores that did not exist in the data. Participants who had “fairly poor” or “very poor” sleep quality were classified as having poor sleep quality. Participants who had “fairly good” or “very good” sleep quality were classified as having good sleep quality.