Title: Nightly sleep duration predicts grade point average in the first year of college
Academic achievement in the first year of college is critical for setting students on a pathway toward long-term academic and life success, yet little is known about the factors that shape early college academic achievement. Given the important role sleep plays in learning and memory, here we extend this work to evaluate whether nightly sleep duration predicts change in end-of-semester grade point average (GPA). First-year college students from three independent universities provided sleep actigraphy for a month early in their winter/spring academic term across five studies. Findings showed that greater early-term total nightly sleep duration predicted higher end-of-term GPA, an effect that persisted even after controlling for previous-term GPA and daytime sleep. Specifically, every additional hour of average nightly sleep duration early in the semester was associated with an 0.07 increase in end-of-term GPA. Sensitivity analyses using sleep thresholds also indicated that sleeping less than 6 h each night was a period where sleep shifted from helpful to harmful for end-of-term GPA, relative to previous-term GPA. Notably, predictive relationships with GPA were specific to total nightly sleep duration, and not other markers of sleep, such as the midpoint of a student’s nightly sleep window or bedtime timing variability. These findings across five studies establish nightly sleep duration as an important factor in academic success and highlight the potential value of testing early academic term total sleep time interventions during the formative first year of college. more »« less
We investigated sleep disparities and academic achievement in college.
Methods
Participants were 6,002 first-year college students attending a midsize private university in the southern United States [62.0% female, 18.8% first-generation, 37.4% Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) students]. During the first 3–5 weeks of college, students reported their typical weekday sleep duration, which we classified as short sleep (<7 hours), normal sleep (7–9 hours), or long sleep (>9 hours).
Results
The odds for short sleep were significantly greater in BIPOC students (95% CI: 1.34–1.66) and female students (95% CI: 1.09–1.35), and the odds for long sleep were greater in BIPOC students (95% CI: 1.38–3.08) and first-generation students (95% CI: 1.04–2.53). In adjusted models, financial burden, employment, stress, STEM academic major, student athlete status, and younger age explained unique variance in sleep duration, fully mediating disparities for females and first-generation students (but only partially mediating disparities for BIPOC students). Short and long sleep predicted worse GPA across students’ first year in college, even after controlling for high school academic index, demographics, and psychosocial variables.
Conclusions
Higher education should address sleep health early in college to help remove barriers to success and reduce disparities.
Zhang, Yi Leaf(
, Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice)
Guided by the notion of academic momentum, this study drew data from longitudinal transcript records at a large public 4-year research university and examined factors that specifically contribute to community college transfer students’ academic momentum. It also explored how early academic momentum along with students’ sociodemographic characteristics impact degree attainment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study. This study conducted multinomial logistic regression analysis and found that certain students’ background characteristics (i.e., gender, age, and family income), community college academic achievement (i.e., associate degree completion, and number of community college credits accepted), and early academic performance at the 4-year university (math and English preparedness, number of credit hours attempted, and first-semester grade point average) were significantly related to transfer students’ likelihood of obtaining a STEM degree. The findings provide new knowledge about academic momentum and could be used to enhance the community college pathway to STEM degree completion.
A combination of strategies was implemented to reduce barriers to transfer from associate to baccalaureate programs, and baccalaureate degree completion. These strategies include creation of the STEM Transfer Collaborative (STC). an adaption of the CUNY Pathways articulation initiative. Components of the STC include articulation agreements, shared professional development to align pedagogy and curriculum, outreach and collaboration by both the sending and receiving college faculty to begin transfer preparation and support before transfer occurs, and regular updates to community college faculty on the success of their transfer students. The second strategy employed is Momentum to the Baccalaureate (MB), an adaption of the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). MB provides support for junior and senior-level transfer students who are either community colleges associate degree graduates (external transfer) or associate degree graduates who transferred to bachelor’s programs at the same comprehensive college they earned their associate degree at, which has a 2+2 degree structure (internal transfer). Components of MB include personalized mentoring, advisement, and monthly stipends to students who maintain full-time enrollment and good academic standing. Participating majors include computer engineering technology, computer systems technology, construction management and civil engineering technology, electrical engineering technology, and applied chemistry. Propensity matching was used to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.
Participating campuses are part of the City University of New York (CUNY), and include six community colleges (Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, and LaGuardia Community College), five of which are Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and New York City College of Technology (City Tech), also an HSI, which offers associate and bachelor’s programs (2+2 structure).
Our first cohort of 40 students started upper-level studies in fall 2019, and has completed 2 years (four semesters) of post-associate degree study. The second cohort of 40 students, started in fall 2020, and has completed one year (two semesters) of post-associate degree study.
Cohort 1 students receiving MB, supports had a significantly higher graduation rate after two years than the college average. Additionally, for cohort 1, the STC seems to have reduced “transfer shock,” the typical drop in GPA the first semester after transfer. There was no statistical difference in GPA, credits completed and semester-to-semester persistence of internal and external transfers in the MB program. Cohort 1 external transfer students who received support though MB also had a statistically significant improvement in their semester GPAs for their first 3 semesters at City Tech compared to matched students who were not provided support in the junior and senior years. There was no statistically significant difference by the 4th semester.
Cohort 2 internal transfers receiving MB supports in their junior year had a statistically significant improvement in credits earned and persistence compared to a matched cohort without MB supports. There was no statistically significant improvement of external transfers compared to a matched cohort, who did not receive MB supports The inability of external transfer students to come to campus due to the pandemic, may have negated the sense of community and belonging that MB was intended to create.
Overall, these preliminary results suggest that targeted pre-transfer and post-transfer supports improve transfer student outcomes.
This project (NSF grant #1832457) was funded through the NSF Division of Education, Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program.
Olsen, D.(
, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings)
Norwich University, a private military college that serves both civilian and Corps of Cadets students, secured an NSF S-STEM award to develop a program to attract and retain highly talented, low-income students. Norwich recognizes that students who enter college with less experience in mathematics are less likely to graduate with a degree in a STEM discipline. With that in mind, the project aims to measure the benefits of a corequisite implementation of precalculus and calculus to help students complete the required calculus sequence by the end of their first year. In the first year of the study, 34 engineering students among 72 total STEM students that placed into precalculus by an institutional math placement exam were randomly allocated into either precalculus or a pilot corequisite calculus course with precalculus review. The content, delivery, and outcomes of the first semester offering of the corequisite implementation of precalculus and calculus will be discussed. The short-term success of the corequisite course using survey results, DFW rates, and retention in the engineering major will be examined.
This work in progress paper describes initial findings from a multi-cohort, longitudinal study designed to investigate engineering identity development and the role it plays in postsecondary engineering students’ commitment to the field and educational persistence. Although engineering identity is often considered an important contributing factor to educational and occupational persistence, there are few quantitative studies that directly examine this link. This study aims to address this gap and contribute to a better understanding of how we may foster engineering identity and help support students in their educational trajectories.
To capture engineering identity, we use survey questions developed and validated in previous research to measure three scientific identity concepts: interest, recognition by self and others, and perceptions of competence and performance in engineering. Drawing on additional concepts in the literature, we also include measures of sense of belonging and commitment to an engineering
career.
In the spring semester 2019, a baseline survey for our first cohort was administered to 179 early career, engineering students across three public postsecondary Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the Southwest United States. A little more than half of the respondents (N=93) were attending a traditional 4-year university while the remainder (N=86) were attending community college at the time of the survey. Almost 70% of the respondents identified as Latinx, approximately 30% identified as female, and about one-third reported that they were first generation college students.
To examine whether students with higher engineering identity, sense of belonging and career commitment are more likely to persist into their second year and have higher college GPAs, institutional enrollment and achievement data were obtained for all survey participants in our first cohort. Logistic and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression were used to test for significant associations, controlling for demographic factors. Preliminary findings suggest that engineering students’ sense of belonging to the field may be especially important.
Creswell, J. David, Tumminia, Michael J., Price, Stephen, Sefidgar, Yasaman, Cohen, Sheldon, Ren, Yiyi, Brown, Jennifer, Dey, Anind K., Dutcher, Janine M., Villalba, Daniella, Mankoff, Jennifer, Xu, Xuhai, Creswell, Kasey, Doryab, Afsaneh, Mattingly, Stephen, Striegel, Aaron, Hachen, David, Martinez, Gonzalo, and Lovett, Marsha C. Nightly sleep duration predicts grade point average in the first year of college. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10451423. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120.8 Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.2209123120.
Creswell, J. David, Tumminia, Michael J., Price, Stephen, Sefidgar, Yasaman, Cohen, Sheldon, Ren, Yiyi, Brown, Jennifer, Dey, Anind K., Dutcher, Janine M., Villalba, Daniella, Mankoff, Jennifer, Xu, Xuhai, Creswell, Kasey, Doryab, Afsaneh, Mattingly, Stephen, Striegel, Aaron, Hachen, David, Martinez, Gonzalo, & Lovett, Marsha C. Nightly sleep duration predicts grade point average in the first year of college. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120 (8). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10451423. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209123120
Creswell, J. David, Tumminia, Michael J., Price, Stephen, Sefidgar, Yasaman, Cohen, Sheldon, Ren, Yiyi, Brown, Jennifer, Dey, Anind K., Dutcher, Janine M., Villalba, Daniella, Mankoff, Jennifer, Xu, Xuhai, Creswell, Kasey, Doryab, Afsaneh, Mattingly, Stephen, Striegel, Aaron, Hachen, David, Martinez, Gonzalo, and Lovett, Marsha C.
"Nightly sleep duration predicts grade point average in the first year of college". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (8). Country unknown/Code not available. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209123120.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10451423.
@article{osti_10451423,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Nightly sleep duration predicts grade point average in the first year of college},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10451423},
DOI = {10.1073/pnas.2209123120},
abstractNote = {Academic achievement in the first year of college is critical for setting students on a pathway toward long-term academic and life success, yet little is known about the factors that shape early college academic achievement. Given the important role sleep plays in learning and memory, here we extend this work to evaluate whether nightly sleep duration predicts change in end-of-semester grade point average (GPA). First-year college students from three independent universities provided sleep actigraphy for a month early in their winter/spring academic term across five studies. Findings showed that greater early-term total nightly sleep duration predicted higher end-of-term GPA, an effect that persisted even after controlling for previous-term GPA and daytime sleep. Specifically, every additional hour of average nightly sleep duration early in the semester was associated with an 0.07 increase in end-of-term GPA. Sensitivity analyses using sleep thresholds also indicated that sleeping less than 6 h each night was a period where sleep shifted from helpful to harmful for end-of-term GPA, relative to previous-term GPA. Notably, predictive relationships with GPA were specific to total nightly sleep duration, and not other markers of sleep, such as the midpoint of a student’s nightly sleep window or bedtime timing variability. These findings across five studies establish nightly sleep duration as an important factor in academic success and highlight the potential value of testing early academic term total sleep time interventions during the formative first year of college.},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
volume = {120},
number = {8},
author = {Creswell, J. David and Tumminia, Michael J. and Price, Stephen and Sefidgar, Yasaman and Cohen, Sheldon and Ren, Yiyi and Brown, Jennifer and Dey, Anind K. and Dutcher, Janine M. and Villalba, Daniella and Mankoff, Jennifer and Xu, Xuhai and Creswell, Kasey and Doryab, Afsaneh and Mattingly, Stephen and Striegel, Aaron and Hachen, David and Martinez, Gonzalo and Lovett, Marsha C.},
}
Warning: Leaving National Science Foundation Website
You are now leaving the National Science Foundation website to go to a non-government website.
Website:
NSF takes no responsibility for and exercises no control over the views expressed or the accuracy of
the information contained on this site. Also be aware that NSF's privacy policy does not apply to this site.
