Article Summaries 

Mrinalini Manektala

Writing and Reading

Hem Paudel

1 March 2016

Article Summaries: Does how much sleep a student get per night affect their academic performance?

1.     Curcio, G., Ferrara, M., and Gerraro, L. (2006). Sleep loss, learning capacity and academic performance. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com

·       The objectives/research questions of this article is if sleep loss and poor academic performance have a correlation.

·       The main results/conclusions were that students of different education levels are chronically sleep deprived or suffer from poor sleep quality and consequent daytime sleepiness; sleep quality and quantity are closely related to student learning capacity and academic performance; sleep loss is frequently associated with poor declarative and procedural learning in students; and studies in which sleep was actively restricted or optimized showed, respectively, a worsening and an improvement in neurocognitive and academic performance.

·       The research methods used in this paper was researching other people’s work and putting it into their own. They had 114 references they used for this article.

·       This source is relevant to my topic because it shows that sleep deprivation does cause poor academic performance, which is an answer I was looking for.

2.     Trockel, M.T., Barnes, M.D., and Egget, D.L. (2000). Health-Related Variables and Academic Performance among First-Year College Students: Implications for Sleep and Other Behaviors. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com

·       The objectives/research questions of this article is if sleep habits affect grade performance among first-year college students.

·       The main results/conclusions were that among all the variables they tested, sleep habits accounted for the largest amount of variance in GPAs. Later wake up times were associated with lower average grades.

·       The research methods used in this article were the authors analyzed the effect of several health behaviors and variables on GPAs of a random sample of 200 students living in on-campus residence halls at a larger private university.

·       This source is relevant to my topic because it talks about academic performance in college students, specifically first-year which is what I am.

3.     Dewald, J.F., Meijer, A.M., Oort, F.J., Kerkhof, G.A., and Bogels, S.M. (2010). The influence of sleep quality, sleep duration and sleepiness on school performance in children and adolescents: A meta-analytic review. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com

·       The objectives/research questions of this article is if sleep quality, sleep duration, and sleepiness affected school performance in children and adolescents.

·       The main results/conclusions were that sleepiness showed the strongest relation to school performance, followed by sleep quality and sleep duration. Effect sizes were larger for studies including younger participants which can be explained by dramatic prefrontal cortex changes during early adolescence. 

·       The research methods used in this article were researching other people’s work and forming their own conclusions. They used 62 sources.

·       This source is relevant to my topic because it analyzes different variables of sleep that affect academic performance which is what I am looking for.

4.     Sadeh, A., Gruber, R., and Raviv, A. (2002). Sleep, Neurobehavioral Functioning, and Behavior Problems in School-Age Children. Retrieved from http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

·       The objectives/research questions of this article is to examine the associations between sleep and neurobehavioral functioning (NBF) in school-age children.

·       The main results/conclusions were that significant correlations between sleep-quality measures and NBF measures were found, particularly in the younger age group. Children with fragmented sleep were characterized by lower performance on NBF measures, particularly those associated with more complex tasks such as a continuous performance test and a symbol-digit substitution test.

·       The research methods used in this article were using objective assessment methods on participants in their regular home setting. The variables were assessed for 135 healthy school children (69 boys and 66 girls) from second, fourth and sixth grade.

·       This source is relevant to my topic because it is showing direct results that fragmented sleep can cause problems with academic performance.

5.     Gozal, D., and Pope, D.W. (2000). Snoring During Early Childhood and Academic Performance at Ages Thirteen to Fourteen Years. Retrieved from http://www.pediatrics.aappublications.org

·       The objectives/research questions of this this article are if obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in young children is associated with an adverse effect on learning, and if the amount of sleep adolescents get affect their academic performance.

·       The main results/conclusions were that the questionnaire response rate for the adolescents was 82.8%. Frequent and loud snoring during early childhood was reported in 103 LP (low performance) children (12.9%) compared with 40 (high performance) children (5.1%; odds ratio: 2.79; confidence interval: 1.88–4.15). Furthermore, 24 LP and 7 HP children underwent T&A for snoring (odds ratio: 3.40; confidence interval: 1.47–7.84), while 21 LP and 19 HP children required surgery for recurrent tonsillitis.

·       The research methods used in this article were questionnaires were mailed to seventh and eighth graders attending public schools whose class ranking was either in the top 25% or bottom 25% of their class, and who were matched for age, gender, race, school, and street of residence. Snoring frequency and loudness at 2 to 6 years of age, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) for snoring or recurrent infection, school grades, and parental smoking and snoring were assessed.

·       This article is relevant to my topic because it assesses adolescent children and their sleep patterns associated with academic performance by a proper survey.  

6.     Singleton, R.A., and Wolfson, A.R. (2009). Alcohol Consumption, Sleep, and Academic Performance among College Students. Retrieved from http://www.jsad.com

·       The objectives/research questions for this article are the study examines the links among alcohol use, sleep, and academic performance in college students.

·       The main results/conclusions were that students with late sleep schedules were more apt to report daytime sleepiness. SAT score was the strongest predictor of GPA. However, gender, alcohol consumption, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness also were significant predictors when other variables were controlled.

·       The research methods used in this article were personal interview surveys were conducted with a random sample of 236 students (124 women) at a liberal arts college. The interviews measured alcohol consumption, gender, academic class, weekday and weekend bedtimes and rise times, and daytime sleepiness.

·       This article is relevant to my topic because it measures the effects sleep deprivation has on GPA and exam performance in college students.