Exploring poor sleep, mental health, and help-seeking intention in university students

ObjectiveUniversity students experience common mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress along with poor-sleep quality. This study explores the relationships between these concepts and help-seeking intention in a general Australian university student population. The primary aim was to examine the moderating effects of sleep quality on help-seeking intention for common mental health problems. The secondary aim was to examine sex differences in help-seeking behaviour. MethodUniversity students, between 18 and 55 years of age (M=30.18, SD =11.37, N=117) of which 98 were female, completed an on-line survey assessing help-seeking intentions, common mental health problems, and sleep quality. ResultsHigh levels of depression, anxiety, and stress were significantly associated with decreased sleep quality or decreased help-seeking intention. A multiple regression analysis predicted that students were more likely to report intention to seek help if they had lower scores of depression, but higher scores of stress. Help-seeking intention levels were lower for males than females. Poor-sleep quality was not found to be a moderator of help-seeking intention. ConclusionAlthough the proposed moderation effect of poor-sleep quality on the relationship between common mental health problems and help-seeking intention was not supported, the study advanced our knowledge of university students' low intention to seek help, despite high scores of poor-sleep quality. Implications for on-campus interventions and raising awareness among students about these issues are discussed.