Relationships between sleep duration and health among U.S. adults with a history of household incarceration during childhood.

Abstract

The rate of incarceration in the United States has increased at an alarming rate in the past 30 years and thus so has the number of children having a household member incarcerated (referred to as household incarceration). Associations between experiencing household incarceration in childhood and later negative health and developmental outcomes are well-documented; however, the underlying mechanisms linking this childhood stressor and adult outcomes have been less well studied. Using state Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data (N = 145,102), this study examines how experiencing household incarceration during childhood is associated with mental and physical health in adulthood and mediational pathways through suboptimal sleep (short or long sleep). Results indicate there were significant indirect effects of household incarceration to physical and mental distress through short sleep (≤6 hr per 24 hr) and long sleep (≥10 hr per 24 hr), and a significant indirect effect of household incarceration to body mass index through short sleep. Findings from the present study highlight indirect pathways through which household incarceration in childhood is linked with sleep health in adulthood and, in turn, to negative mental and physical health.