Relationship of sleep quality, smartphone dependence, and health-related behaviors in female junior college students

INTRODUCTION: Smartphone usage has become commonplace and impact on sleep quality among adolescents. Adolescent girls have a greater tendency toward sleep quality problems. However, relationship of sleep quality, smartphone dependence, and health-related behaviors in female junior college students has not been studied. OBJECTIVES: This study had the two goals: to investigate the relationship between female college students' sleep quality, smartphone dependence, and health-related behaviors, and to identify predictors of sleep quality. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional research approach to gather 409 subjects at a junior college in southern Taiwan, and used a structured questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: basic demographic data, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, assessment of smartphone dependence, and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). Logistic regression analysis was employed to check for any association between sleep quality and smartphone dependence or HPLP. RESULTS: Sleep quality was significantly associated with degree of smartphone dependence, total HPLP score, and scores on the four HPLP subscales of nutritional behavior, self-actualization, interpersonal support, and stress management behavior. The lower the subjects' degree of smartphone dependence was, the better their sleep quality was. Furthermore, the degree of smartphone dependence and total HPLP score were significant predictors of sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: Smartphone dependence is associated with poor sleep quality among female college students. Improving health-related behaviors (nutritional behavior, self-actualization, interpersonal support, and stress management behavior) can also promote improvement in sleep quality.