Data Collection Update!

Hello Battle of the Clocks Backers!

We are delighted to give you an update on our ongoing research study.

Part 1: Baseline Survey

The S.P.A Lab team recruited 245 students at Wesleyan University via flyers, visits to the athletic center and cafeteria; as well as online posts to our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/spalabresearch/) and Twitter account (@SPALab_WesU). The online baseline survey went live in mid-February and assessed a number of variables including perceived stress, subjective sleep, personality, procrastination, technology use, mindful attention, relationship quality with coaches, sexual activity and substance use. After approximately 3 weeks, we received 188 survey responses, which yielded an overall response rate of 76.7%. The sample comprises 65.4% female and 47.8% student-athlete. The class year breakdown is as follows: 30.5% Freshman, 35.3% Sophomore, 16.6% Junior, 16% Senior, and 1.6% graduate student.

Part 2: 7-day “Sleep & Spit”

Currently, we are running Part 2 of our study called the "Spit & Sleep" phase. In this phase, a subsample (approximately 150 participants) will wear a watch-like sleep-monitoring device (based on actigraphy) and provide four spit samples at different times throughout the day for seven days so that we can collect objective sleep data, as well as measure cortisol (a physiological measure of stress). Participants also fill out both morning and evening online diaries every day that assess daily physical activity, diet, subjective stress and perceived sleep. See below for a fun video that we use to illustrate the different components of Part 2 of the study!

Thank you again for your donations - none of this would have been possible without your contributions. We look forward to sending you a future update and are excited to share our findings with you, as well as the larger psychological community!

Best wishes, 

S.P.A Lab Team