Introduction
Acculturation stress, a type of sociocultural stress, and insomnia have been consistently, positively associated among Latinx populations; however, the mechanisms of this association remain elusive. Models of insomnia suggest maladaptive coping strategies, such as brooding and alcohol use, may drive the relationship between stress and this disorder. Because acculturation stress has been positively associated with brooding and alcohol use, these coping strategies may explain the relationship between acculturation stress and insomnia among Latinxs. Additionally, gender differences in the use of these coping strategies and insomnia have been well documented. Thus, we examined the indirect effects of acculturation stress on insomnia through brooding and alcohol use among Latinxs and explored gender differences in these effects.
Methods
Separate bias-corrected boot-strap tests of mediation with case resampling (1000 replications) were conducted to examine the indirect effect of acculturation stress measured using the Hispanic Stress Inventory(HSI), on insomnia, measured with the Insomnia Severity Index(ISI), through brooding and alcohol use. These tests were conducted using cross-sectional survey data from healthy Latinx adults participating in the Latino Sleep and Health Study(n=187). Unadjusted models were the primary models. Progressive adjustments were made to account for age and socioeconomic status. Stratified analyses by gender were conducted to explore potential differences in the mediation models between Latinx women and men.
Results
Participants were Mage=37.43(SD=13.67), 64.17% were women, and 30.48% were of low socioeconomic status. Participants reported a mean HSI of 9.28(SD=9.51), brooding score of 9.44(SD=2.88), and ISI of 6.65(SD=5.51). In a typical week, participants consumed M=2.61 alcoholic beverages(SD=4.68). In primary models, the total and direct effects of acculturation stress on insomnia were significant, (b=0.04,95%CI:0.02-0.06; b=0.02,95%CI:0.004-0.04). The indirect effects of acculturation stress through brooding were also significant (b=0.02, 95%BCa CI:0.01-0.03). Among women, these indirect effects had larger coefficients than among men (b=0.02,95%BCa CI:0.01-0.04; b=0.01,95%BCa CI:0.004-0.04). Alcohol use was not a significant mediator in this relationship, (b=-0.001,95%BCa CI:-0.004-0.0002).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that psychological interventions targeting Latinxs should aim to reduce brooding as a coping strategy for acculturation stress to promote healthy sleep. Future studies should replicate these analyses in temporally ordered data to test the causal relationships among these variables.
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