Sleep quality and stress: An investigation of collegiate aviation pilots.

To investigate collegiate aviation pilots' quality of sleep and psychological distress levels. Collegiate aviation pilots from a Code of Federal Regulations Part 141 four-year degree-awarding university in central Florida ( = 192). The Pittsburgh Sleepiness Quality Index and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale were utilized to assess the participants' subjective quality sleep and psychological distress levels, respectively. A Spearman's rank-order correlation was run to assess the relationship between quality sleep and distress levels in collegiate aviation student pilots. The prevalence of poor sleep quality among the collegiate aviation pilots was 69%. Mild or severe psychological distress was experienced by 32% ( = 61) of the pilots. There was a strong, positive association between quality sleep and psychological distress ( (192) = .716,  < .05). Results suggested collegiate aviation programs should promote explicit strategies for students to improve their sleep habits and well-being.