Graduate Program

School Psychology

Degree Name

Specialist in School Psychology

Semester of Degree Completion

1998

Thesis Director

Russell E. Gruber

Abstract

Eighty-one college students (26 Male and 55 Female) were administered the Digit Span, Arithmetic, and Digit Symbol subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). Two questionnaires were given to the participants. The first requested the participant to report their sleep habits over the last 30 days (Past Month Sleep), the night before the tests (Night Before Sleep), and the amount of sleep they feel they need in order to feel well rested (Needed Sleep). While the second asked if they had given their best effort during testing. Upon completion, the subtest scores were explored in order to determine if a relationship existed among the sleep conditions.

As expected, a significant correlation was noted between Night Before Sleep and Digit Symbol Performance. An exploration of gender differences was undertaken in order to determine if any relationships existed among the obtained data. As a result, Males Digit Span performance correlated significantly with Night Before Sleep, while Females performance did not. However, Males scored significantly lower than Females on the Digit Symbol task.

Participants were also separated into a Sleep Deprived or Well Rested group based upon the amount of sleep they reported acquiring on the night prior to the test, and the amount they reported they needed to feel well rested. As expected, an analysis of the data displayed a significant difference between the Sleep Deprived and Well Rested groups on Digit Symbol Performance. Here, the Sleep Deprived group scored significantly lower than the Well Rested group.

The general sleeping patterns of the participants were also assessed. On average, it was determined that both genders felt they needed close to eight hours of sleep in order to feel well rested. However, the participants averaged only a little over seven hours of sleep. Therefore, on average, the majority of participants failed to acquire enough sleep prior to testing. The results also had shown that Females, on average, slept forty minutes longer than Males on the night prior to the tests. It was interesting to note that Females also scored higher on average than Males in all three subtests performances.

In short, Night Before Sleep was shown to have a significant effect on Digit Symbol performance. Also, it appeared that gender differences in ability performance, regarding the Digit Symbol and Digit Span subtests of the WAIS-R, exist.

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