Linying Ji

Project Leader Linying Ji, Ph.D.
MSU Department of Psychology
[email protected] 

Sleep is a major determinant of multiple health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, cognitive functioning, immune functioning, and mental health. Suboptimal sleep is prevalent and increasing among college students. However, sleep health disparities of college students are understudied, and sleep health conditions of college students from rural areas are unknown. In addition, it is not clear what unique risk and protective factors contribute to the sleep health disparities among college students from rural areas.

Given the large proportion of students from rural areas at Montana State University (MSU), and the large portion of high schoolers in Montana suffering from disrupted sleep, it is critical to understand more about sleep health challenges faced by college students from rural areas in this state and region. This project aims to 1) understand sleep health conditions and explore key barriers and facilitators of sleep health among first-year college students from rural areas at MSU; and 2) investigate between and within participants’ associations of sleep health and mental health across a one-month study period with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. Using a group of 20 participants for the qualitative interviews and EMA study, the project adopts a mixed-methods design to address the knowledge gap for sleep health disparities.

Knowledge gained from this project will 1) inform health disparities knowledge of the understudied population; 2) identify key risk and resilience factors for sleep health; 3) investigate associations of sleep health and mental health; and 4) inform future research on the feasibility of the EMA study design. The long-term goal of this project is to provide valuable and necessary pilot data for a larger R01 grant submission focusing on investigating how sleep patterns evolve over years and relate to academic performance and retention for college students from rural areas using longitudinal data. Eventually, the study team plans to develop a targeted sleep intervention to reduce sleep health disparities.