Pathways of sleep, affect, and stress constellations during the first year of college: transition difficulties of emerging adults

One hundred and fifty Israeli first-year college students were assessed twice: during the first semester following the commencement of their undergraduate studies and toward the end of the second semester. At each semester, participants completed web-based daily diaries for seven consecutive days assessing daily sleep, affective mood, stress, and inventories assessing quality of sleep and indices of adjustment. Cluster analysis of daily sleep, affective mood, and stress revealed three distinctive types of first-year students emphasizing the role of sleep during the transition to college. The two major types, the Well Adjusted and Maladjusted differed in sleep quantity and quality as well as in indices of stress and mood. The third type, the Re-adjusted, were characterized by a decreased number of sleep hours, higher sleep variability, and increased number of hours of studying compared with members of the other two groups during the first semester assessment. However, during the second assessment the Re-adjusted group was found to resemble the Well Adjusted type, demonstrating normative sleep and study patterns. The role of sleep while examining the transition to college and its possible implications is discussed.