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Association between impulsivity and cognitive capacity decrease is mediated by smartphone addiction, academic
Csaba Hamvai1, Hedvig Kiss2, Henrietta Vörös2
1Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Szeged, Mars tér 20, 6722, Szeged, Hungary. hamvai.csaba@med.u-szeged.hu.
BMC Medical Education
|July 27, 2023
Summary
Medical students struggling with focus and planning face decreased cognitive capacity and poor sleep. Interventions targeting impulsivity, smartphone use, and procrastination can improve sleep outcomes and academic self-regulation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Sleep science
- Medical education
Background:
- Medical students experience high rates of sleep disturbance.
- Impulsivity is a potential contributing factor to sleep problems in this population.
- Understanding mediators between impulsivity and sleep is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mediating roles of academic procrastination, smartphone addiction, and bedtime procrastination.
- To examine the relationship between impulsivity (attentional, non-planning, motor) and sleep outcomes (sleep insufficiency, daytime fatigue, cognitive capacity).
- To develop and test a model linking impulsivity traits to subjective cognitive capacity decrease via specific mediators.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 211 medical students.
- Validated scales measured impulsivity, academic procrastination, bedtime procrastination, and smartphone addiction.
- Path analysis was used to examine the direct and indirect effects between variables.
Main Results:
- Attentional and non-planning impulsivity directly predicted decreased cognitive capacity.
- Attentional impulsivity showed a serial mediation effect through smartphone addiction, academic procrastination, bedtime procrastination, sleep insufficiency, and fatigue.
- Non-planning impulsivity's link to cognitive capacity decrease was mediated by academic procrastination, bedtime procrastination, sleep insufficiency, and fatigue.
Conclusions:
- Difficulty with focus and planning directly and indirectly predicts poor sleep outcomes in medical students.
- Excessive smartphone use, academic procrastination, and bedtime procrastination significantly mediate this relationship.
- Interventions should address impulsivity, problematic smartphone use, and procrastination to enhance self-regulatory learning and sleep quality in medical education.
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