Abstract des Autors

One hundred and twelve college students (mean age = 19.6 yrs.) completed a modification of Smith, Reilly, and Midkiff's (1989) Morningness/Eveningness (M/E) survey. Subjects were students in an introductory sport psychology class, and more than half were Division I athletes (65 vs. 47 non-athletes). Gender was equally distributed with 59 males and 53 females in the study.The average score for all subjects on the M/E survey was 33.06, with the mean score for competitive collegiate athletes and non-athletes at 33.87 and 31.92, respectively. This difference was not significant (p >. 05). A main effect for gender was not found. In addition to the 13 items from Smith and colleagues (1989), all athletes in this sample answered 10 additional questions generated by the authors, specific to athletic competition. A mixed 3x2 ANOVA (condition by gender) revealed that there was a significant decrease in competitive collegiate athletes' selfreport of hours of sleep one night before competition versus usual amount of nightly sleep (p <.001). Also, sleep amount was significantly less than usual two nights before competition (p <.001). Athletes also reported factors that influence their sleep. Findings revealed that the sleep of these athletes varies significantly dependent upon athletic competition. Many factors may explain this, with pre-competitive anxiety one likely factor. This expanded version of the M/E survey offers a valuable, non-invasive means of increasing the athlete's awareness of his/her sleep patterns and the influence that pre-competitive sleep may exert on performance. Verf.-Referat