Relations between sleep quality and academic performance among Vietnamese high-school students

Impaired sleep quality and insomnia are important predictors of reduced life functioning. Among adolescents, an important domain affected by insomnia is academic achievement. Insomnia has multiple components, and understanding how different components are related to academic achievement is important, so interventions can be designed to most efficiently target insomnia components. The present study's purpose was to assess relations between different components of insomnia and academic functioning among high-school students in Vietnam, where academic achievement is highly valued and strongly emphasized for adolescents.

Six hundred and thirty-nine high-school students from a more highly-developed, urban area (Hanoi) and a lesser-developed, rural area (Hung Yen) were cross-sectionally assessed. The analysis sample contained 541 students without missing data. Self-report questionnaires assessed (a) sleep quality and insomnia, (b) academic performance, and (c1) fatigue, and (c2) student motivation as potential explanatory variables.

Canonical correlation analyses indicated a significant (p < 0.05) canonical correlation (r = 0.20) between Insomnia and Academic Performance, with higher levels of insomnia symptoms associated with lower reported academic performance. Standardized canonical coefficients indicated that sleep quality components Sleep Duration, Day Dysfunction, and Medication Use had unique statistical relations to Academic Performance. The canonical variate for academic performance was primarily composed of Student-reported GPA. When Motivation and Fatigue were included as covariates, the canonical correlation between sleep quality and academic performance decreased by 25%, and became non-significant, suggesting these variables may function as explanatory variables of relations between sleep quality and academic performance. Moderator analyses indicated variation in results as a function of Grade but not Gender.

Study results suggest that evaluation of Sleep Extension Therapy (which increases sleep duration) for improving academic performance in high school students in countries similar to Vietnam may be useful. Moderator analyses results suggest that for younger high school students, future longitudinal research should investigate whether insomnia interventions should emphasize a direct focus on reducing related functional impairment because of younger students' apparent higher sensitivity to functional impairment. For older high school students, future research should also assess whether it may be beneficial to emphasize increasing sleep duration, to directly reduce cognitive impairment associated with insomnia.