Sleep duration contributes more to variance in Chinese, mathematics, and science performance than to English and arts, but less than socioeconomic status in every subject¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Shapley decomposition attributes 6.94%, 5.11%, and 6.24% of explained variance to sleep in Chinese, math, and science versus 2.95% and 4.36% in English and arts. → Wang 2025

Evidence¶

Wang 2025¶

Wang, M., Chen, Z., Han, N., & Yao, H. (2025). Sleep duration and subject-specific academic performance among adolescents in China. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00361-y

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Shapley value decomposition of R² across predictors (Table 3). Sleep's combined contribution is non-trivial but never dominant: family socioeconomic and cultural status contributes more in every subject (e.g., 70.37% in math).

"the contribution of sleep duration is lower for foreign language and arts, accounting for 2.95% and 4.36%. These findings suggest that although sleep is nonlinearly associated with performance across all subjects, its impact is more pronounced in cognitively demanding subjects such as mathematics and science"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Sleep — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Socioeconomic Status — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Optimal sleep duration varies by subject: about 8–9 hours for mathematics and 7–8 hours for Chinese, English, science, and arts — related
• Sleep duration shows an inverted U-shaped association with academic performance in all five subjects, with a peak around 8 hours of nightly sleep — related
• The positive association between sleep and performance is strongest among lower-achieving students — related
• Threshold regression corroborates the inverted U: performance gains below 7–9 h and significantly negative coefficients beyond the second threshold — related
• Gender differences in optimal sleep duration: girls need slightly longer sleep than boys in most subjects, except mathematics — related