The relationship between exam anxiety levels and sleep quality of senior high school students

Abstract

Objectives: This study used a descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational research design to determine the relationship between exam anxiety levels and sleep quality of senior high school students. Methods: Research data were collected in a high school in Istanbul, Turkey between January 1–31, 2017. 104 high school students volunteered to participate in the research for a sample size (n=104). The rate of return is 86.6%. Data were collected using the Information Form, the Exam Anxiety Inventory and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. SPSS statistical software program was used to evaluate the data. Results: 55.8% of the students were female and their mean age was 17.27 years. 77.9% of the students stated that the university entrance exam was very important, and 74.8% stated that they did not have a sleep problem before they started to prepare for the university entrance exam. There was a weak positive relationship between the subjective sleep quality of students and the Delusion sub-dimension of the Exam Anxiety Inventory (r=0.258; p0.05) and the Affectivity dimension (p>0.05) of the students did not affect subjective sleep quality. While the students' Delusion level did not affect the level of sleep disorder (p=0.701 >0.05), their Affectivity level increased the level of sleep disorder (ß=0.028). Conclusion: Research data illustrated that senior high school students had exam anxieties which negatively affected their sleep quality.