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Examining the structure validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

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Abstract

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a widely used measurement tool for assessing sleep disturbance and is broadly used in clinical and healthy populations. Yet, validation of the PSQI has rarely been carried out for a relatively large non-clinical sample in the United States. The aim for the current study is to examine the structure validity of the PSQI. Data from 2189 individuals (mean age 35.88) were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Furthermore, measurement invariance across age groups was examined using multigroup CFA. We found that a three-factor model (i.e., sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and sleep quality) fitted better than the commonly used single-factor structure. Specifically, for the three-factor model, the comparative fit index was 0.99, the Tucker–Lewis fit index was 0.99, and the root-mean-square error of approximation was 0.04. Those fit indices further indicated a good fit between the model and the observed data. Measurement invariance results suggested that the factor structure of PSQI is not comparable for different age groups, which has implications for future research studies. Our findings validated the factor structure of the PSQI on non-clinical populations and recommended the use of three separate factors to assess sleep quality. In addition, the findings demonstrated that different models should be used to assess sleep disturbance across age groups. However, further research is required to determine the appropriate cut-off points for different age groups.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support awarded by the 2015 Catapult grants rounds provided by the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, 718B Harrington Tower, TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-4225, USA

    Yajun Jia, Siqi Chen & Steven Woltering

  2. Department of Health and Kinesiology, Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4225, USA

    Nicolaas E. P. Deutz

  3. Department of Industrial and System Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4225, USA

    Satish T. S. Bukkapatnam

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  1. Yajun Jia
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Correspondence to Steven Woltering.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all the individuals. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Texas A&M University (IRB2016-0441D).

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Jia, Y., Chen, S., Deutz, N.E.P. et al. Examining the structure validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 17, 209–221 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-018-00201-0

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