Charlotte Attitudes Towards Sleep (CATS) Scale: A validated measurement tool for college students.

OBJECTIVE: Using a 4-phase study design, the present study developed and tested the Charlotte Attitudes Towards Sleep (CATS) Scale, a measurement tool for assessing sleep attitudes in college students. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 706 undergraduate students recruited at a southeastern university and on a national recruitment Web site between October 2013 and April 2015. METHODS: All participants completed the CATS Scale. Participants then completed either a measure of social desirability, faulty sleep beliefs, or measures of sleep and sleep hygiene. Phase 3 participants (N = 168) completed the CATS Scale 2 weeks later to examine test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that the scale was content valid, internally consistent, and independent of social desirability, yielded acceptable temporal stability, and demonstrated concurrent validity in relation to sleep behaviors and outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The CATS Scale is a theoretically driven instrument with promising psychometric properties that may prove beneficial for future research and application efforts among college students.