Exploring Gender Difference in Sleep Quality of Young Adults: Findings from a Large Population Study

Objectives: To explore if gender difference in sleep quality is due to higher prevalence of depression in females, and whether socio-demographic and lifestyle factors have a differential effect on sleep quality in males and females. Methods: Youth self-reports and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were used to assess sleep quality and associated risk factors. Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the association between various risk factors and poor sleep quality. Results: Reports from 3,778 young adults (20.6 +/- 0.86 years) indicate a higher prevalence of poor sleep quality in females than males (65.1% vs. 49.8%). It seems that gender difference in poor sleep is independent of depression, socio-demographics, and lifestyle factors, since the higher odds of poor sleep quality in females was robust to adjust for depression, socio-demographics, and lifestyle factors (OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.23-1.90). Lifestyle factors (eg, smoking) (OR 1.91; 95% CI 1.05-3.46) were associated with sleep quality in only males. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that female vulnerability to poor sleep quality should be explored beyond psycho-social disparities. Perhaps, exploring if the female predisposition to poor sleep quality originates at the biological level could lead to the answer.