A SUBJECTIVE MEANS OF ASSESSING COLLEGE ATHLETES SLEEP - A MODIFICATION OF THE MORNINGNESS EVENINGNESS QUESTIONNAIRE/

One hundred and twelve college students (mean age = 19.6 yrs.) complet ed a modification of Smith, Reilly, and Midkiff's (1983) Morningness/E veningness (M/E) survey. Subjects were students in an introductory spo rt psychology class, and more than half were Division I athletes (65 v s. 47 non-athletes). Gender was equally distributed with 53 males and 53 females in the study. The average score for all subjects on the M/E survey was 33.06, with the mean score for competitive collegiate athl etes and non-athletes at 33.87 and 31.92, respectively This difference was Not significant (p greater than or equal to .05). A main effect f or gender was not found. In addition to the 13 items from Smith and co lleagues (1989), all athletes in this sample answered 10 additional qu estions generated by the authors, specific to athletic competition. A mixed 3x2 ANOVA (condition by gender) revealed that there was a signif icant decrease in competitive collegiate athletes' self report of hour s of sleep one night before competition versus usual amount of nightly sleep (p < .001). Also sleep amount was significantly less than usual two nights before competition (p < .001). Athletes also reported fact ors that influence their sleep. Findings revealed that the sleep of th ese athletes varies significantly dependent upon athletic competition. Many factors may explain this, with pre-competitive anxiety one likel y factor. This expanded version of the M/E survey offers a valuable, n on-invasive means of increasing the athlete's awareness of his/her sle ep patterns and the influence that pre-competitive sleep may exert on performance.