Sleep difficulty and anxiety as correlates of evening chronotype in collegiate athletes

Given limited evidence in collegiate athletes, this cross-sectional observational study examined whether sleep difficulty and competitive anxiety were associated with evening-type chronotype. A total of 199 healthy collegiate athletes aged 18–25 years from different sports disciplines were assessed. Chronotype and Sleep Difficulty Score were evaluated using the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire, and competitive anxiety was assessed using the Sport Anxiety Scale-2. Associations were analyzed using Spearman correlation and logistic regression. Chronotype was weakly correlated with sleep difficulty (rho = -0.29, p < 0.01), somatic anxiety (rho = -0.29, p < 0.01), worry anxiety (rho = -0.21, p < 0.01), concentration disruption (rho = -0.14, p = 0.03), and overall competitive anxiety (rho = -0.26, p < 0.01). In the multivariate logistic regression model, severe sleep difficulty was associated with higher odds of evening-type chronotype (OR = 5.27, 95% CI: 1.04–26.7, p = 0.04). Sleep difficulty and competitive anxiety were associated with evening-type chronotype in collegiate athletes, although the observed correlations were weak. However, the findings suggest that screening for sleep difficulty and competitive anxiety may help identify collegiate athletes with evening-type chronotype who may require targeted sleep-health support.