Background We examined the mediating effect of sleep problems on the relationship between economic hardship (i.e., economic stress and subjective socioeconomic status) and quality of life (QOL).
Methods We analyzed data from 232 students who completed all three self-report surveys over the course of the semester, employing a simple mediation model examined by the SPSS PROCESS Macro.
Results The findings revealed that higher levels of economic stress at Time 1 (T1) were associated with higher levels of sleep problems at T2 which, in turn, were associated with a poorer QOL at T3. In contrast, subjective socioeconomic status at T1 was not associated with sleep problems at either T2 or QOL at T3.
Conclusions The current results suggest that improving sleep problems may be effective in mitigating the negative impact of economic stress on QOL among university students.