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Personality

How Personality Traits Link to Voluntary Sleep Loss in Students

Andersz N, Bargiel-Matusiewicz K · Frontiers in psychology · 2018

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

Students driven by fun often choose to stay awake for socializing, while anxiety-prone students sacrifice sleep to study, though both suffer from poor sleep quality.

How this study connects

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Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsPersonality Traitsconcept

    The behaviour was near-universal; personality predicted the reason rather than the act.

    Motivational systems predicted which reason people gave for losing sleep. With 97.3% of students regularly sleeping less than their stated ideal, those high in behavioural activation fun-seeking sacrificed sleep for social life and entertainment, while behavioural inhibition related to a different pattern.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

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How Personality Traits Link to Voluntary Sleep Loss in Students

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223 Polish college students

Participants were 223 Polish college students, 136 female and 87 male.

97.3% of participants

97.3% of participants reported regularly sleeping less than their ideal sleep duration to engage in other activities.
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Key findings

An overwhelming 97.3% of students reported regularly sleeping less than their ideal amount to complete other activities. Students with a highly active behavioral activation system (specifically fun-seeking) frequently sacrificed sleep for social life and entertainment, while those with an active behavioral inhibition system gave up sleep to study. Additionally, higher behavioral inhibition was linked to poorer overall sleep quality, particularly among female students.

Methodology

Researchers surveyed 223 Polish university students to explore how biological personality traits influence intentional sleep deprivation. They measured participants' behavioral inhibition and activation levels, overall sleep quality, and specific reasons for giving up sleep. The survey also evaluated whether students chose or were forced to miss sleep, and what benefits or losses they associated with this choice.

Limitations

Because this study relied on correlational data, it cannot prove that personality traits directly cause students to lose sleep or experience poor sleep quality. The sample consisted solely of university students under 35 years of age, meaning the findings might not apply to older adults with different family or work dynamics. Furthermore, sleep quality and deprivation habits were measured using self-reported questionnaires rather than objective metrics like sleep-tracking devices.

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