Identifying influencing factors associated with sleep quality in undergraduates based on partial least squares regression and XGBoost.

Background: This study aimed to identify the influencing factors associated with sleep quality among undergraduates in Jiangsu, China, and to explore their complex relationships. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted online between October and November 2022. A total of 7,062 valid participants (aged 20.1 ± 1.3 years) were included, and a complete case analysis was performed. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), with a score exceeding 7 denoting poor sleep quality. To overcome the limitations of traditional statistical methods in handling multicollinearity and capturing complex, nonlinear associations, Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) was used to quantify linear relationships between influencing factors and quantitative PSQI scores, while the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis were utilized to identify nonlinear influencing factors and their interactions associated with binary classification of sleep quality. Results: The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 26.5% (95%CI: 25.5 to 27.6%). Mental health status was the most influencing factor, and those with good mental health had better sleep quality ( Conclusion: The integrated PLSR-XGBoost framework effectively handled multicollinearity without discarding variables and provided a more comprehensive understanding from both linear and nonlinear perspectives. The findings support the development of comprehensive and tailored interventions targeting specific influencing factors, such as mental health support, dormitory noise management, smartphone use modification, and resilience-building programs, offering an empirical foundation for sleep health promotion initiatives in university settings.