Sleep quality, insomnia severity, and perceived cognitive difficulties among architecture students in studio-based education: A cross-sectional study in Jordan

Abstract

Studio-based architectural education is characterized by intensive project work, iterative design development, critique, and deadline-driven production, which may be associated with disrupted sleep and perceived cognitive difficulties. This cross-sectional study examined sleep quality, insomnia severity, morningness–eveningness (M–E) preference, perceived cognitive difficulties, and studio-related sleep perceptions among undergraduate architecture students at a public university in Jordan. All eligible students were invited, and 138 of 377 (36.6%) completed sufficient questionnaire data for inclusion. The structured online questionnaire included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Insomnia Severity Index, a brief three-item M–E preference component, 19 adapted Cognitive Functioning Self-Assessment Scale (CFSS) items, and studio-related perception items. Analyses included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, principal component analysis, Spearman correlations, nonparametric group comparisons, and stepwise multiple linear regression. Overall, 93.5% of participants were classified as poor sleepers, and 65.2% fell within the moderate-to-severe insomnia screening categories. Perceived cognitive difficulties were multidimensional, with attention, working memory, and executive-functioning difficulties showing the highest mean score. Poorer sleep quality (ρ = .345) and greater insomnia severity (ρ = .478) were significantly associated with greater perceived cognitive difficulties, whereas the continuous M–E preference score was not significantly correlated with the sleep or cognitive measures. In multivariable analysis, insomnia severity showed the stronger association, accounting for 24.1% of the variance; adding global sleep quality increased the explained variance to 26.5%. Studio-related items indicated that students perceived studio courses as linked to fatigue, sleep-schedule adjustment, and concentration or problem-solving difficulties. These findings are associational: the study was cross-sectional, relied on self-report at a single institution, included no comparison group, and did not adjust for several potential confounders, including stress, health-related factors, and digital-device use. The results identify sleep disturbance as an important issue in architectural education and suggest that workload organization and studio culture warrant further consideration in student well-being and pedagogy discussions.