0159 Sleep Resilience in Division I Football Players: Validation of the SRQSA

Abstract Introduction Sleep resilience refers to the capacity to maintain effective functioning despite sleep adversity, including disruptions to sleep quantity, quality, or timing. Although higher sleep resilience has been associated with lower sleep-related impairment, little is known about sleep resilience in collegiate athletes, who frequently experience sleep disturbances due to training, travel, academics, and stress. Existing measures demonstrate strong reliability and a unitary structure in general populations, but have not been validated in athletes. This study evaluated the reliability, validity, and dimensionality of the novel Sleep Resilience Questionnaire for Student Athletes (SRQSA) and tested its convergent and divergent validity through associations with other sleep variables. Methods We performed secondary data analysis on a parent intervention study that included 114 male college football athletes (ages 18-26). Participants completed the SRQSA and additional measures assessing sleep health, disturbance, impairment, and chronotype. Analyses included item-total correlations, internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test-retest reliability, linear regressions, and independent-samples t-test. Results The SRQSA demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α=.95) and unidimensional structure supported by EFA and CFA χ²(41)=81.57, p=<.001; RMSEA=.07; 90%CI[.05,.09], CFI=.996; TLI=.994(Ω=.96). Test-retest reliability was moderate (ICC=.51-.68). Validity analyses showed that lower sleep resilience was associated with higher sleep disturbance (β=–.23, p=.001), greater sleep-related impairment (M=35.79 vs. 43.12, t(213) =–4.33, p<.001, d=–0.76), and an evening chronotype (β=–.17, p=.012). Higher sleep resilience was associated with better sleep health (β=.18, p=.007). All associations were statistically significant with small to moderate effect sizes. Conclusion The SRQSA is a reliable and valid measure of sleep resilience in collegiate athletes. Findings support sleep resilience as a distinct construct within the sleep domain, offering opportunity for future research on its role in recovery and performance. This measure provides the initial foundation for developing resilience-based interventions to help athletes maintain function amidst unavoidable sleep disturbances. Support (if any)