Altınöz ŞT, Tarlacık LD, Engin E, Uzel Y, Doğan U, Altınöz AE. Unraveling the role of dysfunctional sleep beliefs: How chronotype shapes sleep quality and academic success in medical students. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 109566 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.109566]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ali Ercan Altınöz, MD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Meşelik Campus, No. 4 Büyükdere, Odunpazarı, Eskişehir 26040, Türkiye. aaltinoz@ogu.edu.tr
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Psychiatry
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Retrospective Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Nov 19, 2025 (publication date) through Nov 3, 2025
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Publication Name
World Journal of Psychiatry
ISSN
2220-3206
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Altınöz ŞT, Tarlacık LD, Engin E, Uzel Y, Doğan U, Altınöz AE. Unraveling the role of dysfunctional sleep beliefs: How chronotype shapes sleep quality and academic success in medical students. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(11): 109566 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.109566]
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2025; 15(11): 109566 Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.109566
Unraveling the role of dysfunctional sleep beliefs: How chronotype shapes sleep quality and academic success in medical students
Şengül Tosun Altınöz, Leman Deniz Tarlacık, Esin Engin, Yaren Uzel, Uğur Doğan, Ali Ercan Altınöz
Şengül Tosun Altınöz, Leman Deniz Tarlacık, Private Practice, Eskişehir 26040, Türkiye
Esin Engin, Department of Clinical Psychology, TED University, Ankara 06420, Türkiye
Yaren Uzel, Department of Psychiatry, Ankara University, Ankara 06230, Türkiye
Uğur Doğan, Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Türkiye
Ali Ercan Altınöz, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir 26040, Türkiye
Author contributions: Tosun Altınöz Ş, Altınöz AE, Tarlacık LD, Engin E, Doğan U, and Uzel Y designed the study; Uzel Y, Altınöz AE, Engin E, and Tarlacık LD collected the data; Doğan U and Tosun Altınöz Ş performed analysis. All authors contributed to writing the manuscript and approved the final version.
Institutional review board statement: The present study was approved by Eskisehir Osmangazi University Non-invasive Clinical Research Ethics Committee on 11.04.2023 with a decision number of 06.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided written informed consent prior to their participation in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the present study.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Altınöz AE. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions on their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ali Ercan Altınöz, MD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Meşelik Campus, No. 4 Büyükdere, Odunpazarı, Eskişehir 26040, Türkiye. aaltinoz@ogu.edu.tr
Received: May 16, 2025 Revised: June 24, 2025 Accepted: September 10, 2025 Published online: November 19, 2025 Processing time: 171 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Dysfunctional beliefs about sleep may influence academic performance through their impact on sleep quality. Differences in chronotype can further moderate this relationship, particularly among students with irregular sleep patterns.
AIM
To examine the indirect effects of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep on academic performance through sleep quality while considering individual differences in chronotypes among medical students.
METHODS
The participants were categorized by chronotype and administered the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and reported their grade point averages (GPAs). Mediation analysis was performed to examine indirect pathways through sleep quality.
RESULTS
Dysfunctional sleep beliefs did not directly affect academic success but indirectly impaired GPA via reduced sleep quality, especially in evening-type students.
CONCLUSION
Chronotype moderates the relationship between sleep quality and academic performance, highlighting the need for targeted cognitive interventions.
Core Tip: This study investigated how dysfunctional beliefs about sleep indirectly affect academic achievement through sleep quality among medical students. The findings revealed that chronotype moderates this relationship, with evening-type students being particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of maladaptive sleep cognitions. By highlighting its role in mediating sleep quality, this study suggests that cognitive-behavioral interventions tailored to chronotype may improve both sleep and academic outcomes.
