Psychological Well-Being in Asian and Asian American University Students: Impacts of Discrimination During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine what modifiable behavioral and sociological factors were predictive of psychological distress and suicide risk in Asian and Asian American students, the ethnic group with the highest unmet mental health need in collegiate populations. We also compared these relationships in Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 to better understand how the impact of these factors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent increase in Anti-Asian discrimination. METHODS: We used factor analysis to extract a wide range of predictor variables from the Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment III. Next, we used structural equation modeling to identify significant drivers of psychological distress (Kessler-6 scale) and suicidality (Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised scale) in Asian and Asian American students (n = 4,681 in 2019 and 1,672 in 2020). RESULTS: When compared to 2019, experiencing discrimination in 2020 had a substantially larger effect on both psychological distress and suicidality among Asian and Asian American university students. Loneliness and depression were also significant drivers of negative mental health outcomes both years, and their effect magnitudes remained largely unchanged. Being well rested had a protective effect against psychological distress both years. DISCUSSION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination was an important driver of psychological distress and suicidality in Asian and Asian American students. These findings suggest that organizations should enhance culturally competent mental healthcare services, while also working at the systems level to reduce bias and discrimination.

University housing reinforces the negative relationship between interpersonal violence, psychological distress, and suicidality in undergraduates, particularly among gender diverse students.

OBJECTIVE: To compare academic and mental health outcomes across diverse gender identities in the context of interpersonal violence and campus housing. PARTICIPANTS: 45,549 students from 124 self-selected post-secondary institutions. METHODS: Various academic and health measures from the National College Health Assessment Spring 2017 dataset were analyzed for differences across five gender identities (cis women, cis men, transwomen, transmen, and genderqueer students), and two housing categories (university housing and non-university housing). RESULTS: When compared to cisgender peers, gender diverse students reported greater experiences of interpersonal violence and higher levels of negative academic and mental health outcomes. Living in university housing was associated with an increase in these disparities. CONCLUSIONS: University housing, which usually reinforces fixed gender binaries, is associated with worse outcomes for gender diverse students. These data can help higher education institutions better understand and address problems that disproportionately impact transgender and gender diverse students, who represent a growing demographic.

Sleep quality mediates the relationship between traumatic events, psychological distress, and suicidality in college undergraduates.

Objectives: To determine whether sleep quality mediates the relationship between traumatic life events and psychological wellbeing in college students. Methods: 40,646 undergraduate responses from the Spring 2017 National College Health Assessment II were evaluated for relationships between two predictor variables: satisfactory sleep and traumatic life events, and two outcome variables: psychological distress (a composite of anxiety, exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, depression, sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, and anger) and suicidality (composite of self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts). Linear mediation regression analysis via structural equation modeling was used to test these relationships. Results: Each additional traumatic life event students reported experiencing was associated with a 27.6% - 58.9% increase in the odds of reporting indicators of psychological distress or suicidality. Satisfactory sleep significantly mediated this negative relationship (proportional effects between 10.6 and 12.5%). Conclusions: Healthy sleep mediates the impact of traumatic life events on psychological distress and suicidality.

Daytime sleepiness among Midwestern firefighters.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is the most common symptom of sleep-disorders. Although high levels of EDS have been reported among firefighters, there is a limited understanding on EDS in firefighters. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in full-time firefighters (n = 275). The survey included the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to assess EDS, as well as other questions related to job characteristics, health history, and demographics. Firefighters reported inadequate sleep hours, extremely short sleep latencies, and high EDS higher than the general population. A majority of firefighters indicated a willingness to consult with a sleep professional. Risk factors associated with EDS included at least five years of professional experiences and depression diagnosis. Our findings suggest that EDS is widespread among firefighters. With increasing time on the job, frequencies of both obesity and EDS increase, which can have severe and compounding effects on health and safety.

Sleep Predicts Collegiate Academic Performance: Implications for Equity in Student Retention and Success.

College students show high levels of insufficient sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep schedule irregularity, poor sleep quality, and inadequate sleep hygiene. This article describes the evidence linking poor sleep with impaired academic performance; discusses mediating environmental, behavioral, and demographic factors that correlate with sleep; and highlights examples of successful health promotion initiatives on college campuses. Given that students who are traditionally minoritized on college campuses tend to have worse sleep, improving sleep health emerges as an important issue for retention, equity, and inclusion.

Follow-up to Hartmann & Prichard: Should universities invest in promoting healthy sleep? A question of academic and economic significance.

OBJECTIVE: We use regression results from Hartmann & Prichard (2018) in conjunction with other publicly available data to estimate the economic benefits from early identification and treatment of sleep problems on raising the likelihood of students' college graduation and future earnings. RESULTS: The benefits of improved graduation rates and future earnings exceed the cost of being screened, educated, and treated for sleep problems. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the demand for information about healthy sleep by students and the established link between sleep problems and academic success, universities should consider instituting sleep health programs to identify and support students with sleep disturbances early in their academic careers.

Calculating the contribution of sleep problems to undergraduates' academic success.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to determine to what degree sleep disturbances predict academic success, relative to other known risk factors for decreased academic performance. METHODS: We performed regression analyses on data from the Spring 2009 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II dataset (n=55,322 students) to isolate the relative contribution of the frequency of sleep problems in the previous week to GPA and the likelihood of withdrawing from a course. In our estimations, we also controlled for other factors that influence academic success such as demographic and academic variables, drug and alcohol use, perceived stress, and employment hours. RESULTS: Sleep disturbances were found to be a significant independent predictor of academic problems; on average, each additional day per week that a student experienced sleep problems raised the probability of dropping a course by 10% and lowered the cumulative GPA by 0.02. Factors such as stress, binge drinking, marijuana and other illicit drug use, which typically receive more attention by university administrators, had similar or relatively smaller negative associations with academic success as compared to disturbed sleep. Approximately three quarters of students surveyed reported never receiving information about sleep from their university. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep education represents an underutilized opportunity for universities to maximize retention rates and academic success.

An Update on Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists and Their Potential Role in Insomnia Therapeutics.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Current pharmacological options for the treatment of insomnia insufficiently meet the needs of all insomnia patients. Approved treatments are not consistently effective in improving sleep onset and sleep maintenance, while also having complicated safety profiles. These limitations highlight the unmet need for additional medications and treatment strategies. Initial research suggests that the dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs) may offer an additional pharmaceutical option to treat insomnia in some patients. METHODS: We reviewed the existing literature on dual orexin receptor antagonists in PubMed databases using the search terms "orexin receptor antagonist," "almorexant" "filorexant," "lembroexant" and "suvorexant"; searches were limited to English language primary research articles, clinical trials, and reviews. RESULTS: Targeting the orexin receptor system for treatment of insomnia offers an additional and alternative pharmacological approach to more common gamma aminobutyric acid agonist sedative hypnotic treatment. Effectiveness is not well established in the current literature; however, the literature does suggest efficacy. Preclinical reports also suggest the potential for treatment in individuals with comorbid Alzheimer disease and insomnia. CONCLUSIONS: DORAs offer an additional treatment option for insomnia. More clinical trials are needed to robustly evaluate their safety and effectiveness in several subclasses of individuals with insomnia. Given the published literature, head-to-head comparisons to existing treatment for insomnia are warranted.

Demographics, Health, and Risk Behaviors of Young Adults Who Drink Energy Drinks and Coffee Beverages.

Objective: The present study investigates risk behaviors, sleep habits, and mental health factors associated with caffeinated beverage use in young adults. Materials and Methods: Students from a midsize private university (n = 159) completed a 15-minute anonymous questionnaire, including questions on risk behaviors, sleep habits, alcohol, and caffeine consumption. We compared behaviors between the top ∼15% ("high end") of energy drink users (≥3/month) and coffee users (≥16/month) to those with less frequent or no caffeine consumption. Results: Caffeine consumption was frequent among young adults. In the last month, 36% of students had an energy drink, 69% had coffee or espresso, and 86% reported having any caffeine; however, the majority of students were unaware of the caffeine content in these beverages. High-end energy drink consumers reported more risk-taking behaviors (increased drug and alcohol use and less frequent seat belt use), sleep disturbances (later bedtimes, harder time falling asleep, and more all-nighters), and higher frequency of mental illness diagnoses than those who consumed fewer energy drinks. In contrast, the frequency of most risk behaviors, sleep disturbances, and mental illness diagnoses was not significantly different between the high-end and general population of coffee drinkers. Conclusion: Students with delayed sleep patterns, mental illness, and higher frequency of substance use and risk behaviors were more likely to be regular energy drink users but not regular coffee drinkers. It is unclear whether the psychoactive content in energy drinks results in different behavioral effects than just caffeine in coffee, and/or different personality/health populations are drawn to the two types of beverages.

Depression, anxiety, and tobacco use: Overlapping impediments to sleep in a national sample of college students.

OBJECTIVES: To examine how tobacco use and depression/anxiety disorders are related to disturbed sleep in college students. PARTICIPANTS: 85,138 undergraduate respondents (66.3% female, 74.5% white, non-Hispanic, ages 18-25) from the Spring 2011 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II database. METHODS: Multivariate analyses of tobacco use (none, intermediate, daily) and mental health (diagnosed and/or symptomatic depression or anxiety) were used to predict sleep disturbance. RESULTS: Daily tobacco use was associated with more sleep problems than binge drinking, illegal drug use, obesity, gender, and working >20 hours/week. Students with depression or anxiety reported more sleep disturbances than individuals without either disorder, and tobacco use in this population was associated with the most sleep problems. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco use and depression/anxiety disorders are both independently associated with more sleep problems in college students. Students with depression and/or anxiety are more likely to be daily tobacco users, which likely exacerbates their sleep problems.

Music and the mind: a new interdisciplinary course on the science of musical experience.

In this paper the instructors describe a new team-taught transdisciplinary seminar, "Music and Mind: The Science of Musical Experience." The instructors, with backgrounds in music and neuroscience, valued the interdisciplinary approach as a way to capture student interest and to reflect the inherent interconnectivity of neuroscience. The course covered foundational background information about the science of hearing and musical perception and about the phenomenology of musical creation and experience. This two-credit honors course, which attracted students from eleven majors, integrated experiential learning (active listening, journaling, conducting mini-experiments) with rigorous reflection and discussion of academic research. The course culminated in student-led discussions and presentations of final projects around hot topics in the science of music, such as the 'Mozart Effect,' music and religious experience, etc. Although this course was a two-credit seminar, it could easily be expanded to a four-credit lecture or laboratory course. Student evaluations reveal that the course was successful in meeting the learning objectives, that students were intrinsically motivated to learn more about the discipline, and that the team-taught, experiential learning approach was a success.

Sleep patterns and predictors of disturbed sleep in a large population of college students.

PURPOSE: To characterize sleep patterns and predictors of poor sleep quality in a large population of college students. This study extends the 2006 National Sleep Foundation examination of sleep in early adolescence by examining sleep in older adolescents. METHOD: One thousand one hundred twenty-five students aged 17 to 24 years from an urban Midwestern university completed a cross-sectional online survey about sleep habits that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Scale, the Profile of Mood States, the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and questions about academic performance, physical health, and psychoactive drug use. RESULTS: Students reported disturbed sleep; over 60% were categorized as poor-quality sleepers by the PSQI, bedtimes and risetimes were delayed during weekends, and students reported frequently taking prescription, over the counter, and recreational psychoactive drugs to alter sleep/wakefulness. Students classified as poor-quality sleepers reported significantly more problems with physical and psychological health than did good-quality sleepers. Students overwhelmingly stated that emotional and academic stress negatively impacted sleep. Multiple regression analyses revealed that tension and stress accounted for 24% of the variance in the PSQI score, whereas exercise, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and consistency of sleep schedule were not significant predictors of sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that insufficient sleep and irregular sleep-wake patterns, which have been extensively documented in younger adolescents, are also present at alarming levels in the college student population. Given the close relationships between sleep quality and physical and mental health, intervention programs for sleep disturbance in this population should be considered.

Light-dependent retinal innervation of the rat superior colliculus.

Mammalian retinal projections are divided into two anatomically and functionally distinct systems: the primary visual system, which mediates conscious visual processing, and the subcortical visual system, which mediates nonconscious responses to light. Light deprivation during a critical period in development alters the anatomy, physiology, and function of the primary visual system in many mammalian species. However, little is known about the influence of dark-rearing on the development of the subcortical visual system. To evaluate whether the early lighting environment alters the anatomy of the subcortical visual system, we examined the retinas and retinofugal projections of rats reared in a 12:12 light/dark cycle or in constant dark from birth to 4 months of age. We found that dark-rearing was associated with a reduction in the distribution of retinal fibers in the stratum opticum of the contralateral superior colliculus. In contrast to the plasticity of the retinocollicular projection, retinal input to sleep, circadian, and pupillary control centers in the hypothalamus, pretectum, and lateral geniculate complex was unaffected by dark-rearing. A decrease in retinal innervation of the stratum opticum and intermediate layers of the superior colliculus may account for some of the deficits in multisensory integration that have been observed in dark-reared animals of several species.

Writing to learn: an evaluation of the calibrated peer review™ program in two neuroscience courses.

Although the majority of scientific information is communicated in written form, and peer review is the primary process by which it is validated, undergraduate students may receive little direct training in science writing or peer review. Here, I describe the use of Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR), a free, web-based writing and peer review program designed to alleviate instructor workload, in two undergraduate neuroscience courses: an upper- level sensation and perception course (41 students, three assignments) and an introductory neuroscience course (50 students; two assignments). Using CPR online, students reviewed primary research articles on assigned 'hot' topics, wrote short essays in response to specific guiding questions, reviewed standard 'calibration' essays, and provided anonymous quantitative and qualitative peer reviews. An automated grading system calculated the final scores based on a student's essay quality (as determined by the average of three peer reviews) and his or her accuracy in evaluating 1) three standard calibration essays, 2) three anonymous peer reviews, and 3) his or her self review. Thus, students were assessed not only on their skill at constructing logical, evidence-based arguments, but also on their ability to accurately evaluate their peers' writing. According to both student self-reports and instructor observation, students' writing and peer review skills improved over the course of the semester. Student evaluation of the CPR program was mixed; while some students felt like the peer review process enhanced their understanding of the material and improved their writing, others felt as though the process was biased and required too much time. Despite student critiques of the program, I still recommend the CPR program as an excellent and free resource for incorporating more writing, peer review, and critical thinking into an undergraduate neuroscience curriculum.

Sleep responses to light and dark are shaped by early experience.

Light regulates sleep timing through circadian entrapment and by eliciting acute changes in behavior. These behaviors are mediated by the subcortical visual system, retinorecipient nuclei distinct from the geniculocortical system. To test the hypothesis that early visual experience shapes light regulation of behavior, the authors recorded sleep in albino rats reared in continuous dark, continuous light, or a 12-hr light-dark cycle. Dark rearing strengthened and light rearing weakened acute responses to light, including light modulation of REM sleep, a marker for pretectal function in albino rats. However, neither dark nor light rearing altered daily amounts of wakefulness, non-REM sleep, or REM sleep. Thus, light and dark rearing might differentially affect the balance between acute and circadian responses to light that, in concert, govern sleep timing.