Abstract
Introduction Academic stress has become a major concern for university students due to its impact on lifestyle and health behaviours. Stress often triggers unhealthy eating and poor sleep quality, which further exacerbates psychological and physical problems.
Purpose This study investigates the relationship between academic stress and unhealthy eating among students, with sleep quality as a mediating factor.
Methods A total of 350 students from universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi completed self-report questionnaires including the Perception of Academic Stress scale, Healthy and Unhealthy eating Behaviours Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Data were analyzed through correlation, regression and mediation analysis using SPSS and PROCESS Macro.
Results Reliability analysis showed good internal consistency of a scale (α ranging from .68 to .81). Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between academic stress and unhealthy eating (r = .258, p < .001), a weak but significant correlation between unhealthy eating and sleep quality (r = .119, p = .02), and a significant negative correlation between academic stress and sleep quality (r = -.110, p = .03). Mediation analysis revealed that sleep quality did not significantly mediate the relationship between academic stress and unhealthy eating. Gender analysis showed males reported slightly higher eating habits than females, while no significant differences were found for stress and sleep quality.
Conclusion The results suggests that academic stress directly predicts unhealthy eating, while sleep quality has a limited mediating role. Promoting stress management, healthy eating, and sleep hygiene is crucial for students’ well-being.