Mindfulness for Better Sleep: How Self-Efficacy and Descriptive Norms Shape Sleep Hygiene Intentions Among College Students

This study investigates the influence of self-efficacy and descriptive norms on college students' sleep hygiene intentions. A 2 (descriptive norms: positive vs. negative) × 2 (efficacy intervention: task performance vs. control) experiment was conducted with U.S. college students (<i>N</i> = 299) targeting mindfulness as a way to achieve better sleep. No significant difference in mindfulness self-efficacy and subsequent behavioral intentions was found between those who participated in the intervention and those in the control group. However, being provided information that one sleeps below the norm was found to moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and behavioral intentions. Specifically, behavioral intentions of practicing general sleep hygiene were highest for those told they slept worse than the norm but had high self-efficacy in the target behavior, and lowest for those in the same norm condition with low self-efficacy. The findings highlight the continued need for effective interventions increasing self-efficacy and research on the relationship between self-efficacy and descriptive norms in predicting sleep intentions.