The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in 2 US college samples demonstrated moderate convergent validity compared to measures of insomnia and fatigue, and good divergent validity with measures of daytime sleepiness, circadian phase preference, and alcohol and marijuana use, according to a recent study. In Study I, researchers assessed convergent and divergent validity in 866 undergraduates who completed a sleep diary, PSQI, and other sleep and psychosocial measures. Study II assessed PSQI insomnia diagnostic accuracy in a separate sample of 147 healthy undergraduates with and without insomnia. They found:

• The PSQI global score demonstrated good divergent validity with measures of excessive daytime sleepiness (r=0.18), circadian preference (r=-0.08), alcohol (r=0.08) and marijuana (r=0.05) abuse scales, and poor divergent validity with depression (r=0.48), anxiety (r=0.40), and perceived stress (r=0.33).

• Examination of other analogous PSQI and sleep diary components showed low to moderate convergent validity: sleep latency (r=0.70), wake after sleep onset (r=0.37), sleep duration (r=0.51), and sleep efficiency (r=-0.32).

• Diagnostic accuracy of the PSQI to detect insomnia was very high (area under the curve=0.999).

Citation: Dietch JR, Taylor DJ, Sethi K, Kelly K, Bramoweth AD, Roane BM. Psychosometric evaluation of the PSQI in US college students. [Published online ahead of print May 3, 2016]. J Clin Sleep Med. pii:jc-00093-15.