Within‐person associations between racial microaggressions and sleep among African American and Latinx young adults

Abstract

Summary Emerging work suggests that experiences of racial discrimination may impact overall sleep health; however, there is limited work on the link between racial microaggressions and sleep. Using weekly diary data, the current study examined young adults’ weekly reports of racial microaggressions across 4 weeks, and their relation to weekly reports of sleep‐onset latency, reduced total sleep time and poorer sleep quality. This design allowed us to examine how within‐person fluctuations in racial microaggressions corresponded with young adults’ sleep. Data were collected among 140 African American (62.1%) and Latinx (37.9%) college students attending a Midwestern University. Students were randomly selected to participate; they were, on average, 20.70 years old (SD = 1.22) and the majority were female (69.3%). Participants self‐reported their racial microaggressions and sleep behaviours (i.e. sleep‐onset latency, total sleep time and sleep quality) each week (across 4 weeks). Multilevel modelling showed significant within‐person effects of racial microaggressions for sleep onset and sleep quality, but not for total sleep duration. Specifically, on weeks that individuals reported increases in racial microaggressions, they reported greater sleep‐onset duration and poorer sleep quality. The current findings provide preliminary evidence that racial microaggressions are associated with sleep‐onset durations and sleep quality among African American and Latinx young adults. Although racial microaggressions are often considered subtle, they may impact the sleep health of young adults in marginalized groups.

Linking ethnic/racial discrimination to adolescent mental health: Sleep disturbances as an explanatory pathway

“…This study contributes to research that investigates how sleep is implicated in adolescent mental health, with a specific focus on sleep quality rather than sleep duration (Dewald et al, 2010; Shimizu et al, 2020). Applied to interventions and programming, these data suggest that focusing on sleep quality may be just as important as focusing on sleep duration as a lever for improving adolescent mental health (Davenport et al, 2020).…”

“…This study included three indicators of daily sleep/wake problems: nighttime disturbance, daytime dysfunction, and daytime sleepiness. An adapted, daily measure of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al, 1989), a well-validated scale among participants from diverse geographic and ethnic/racial backgrounds (e.g., de la Vega et al, 2015;Gelaye et al, 2014;Lewis et al, 2013;Steffen & Bowden, 2006), assessed adolescents' previous-day nighttime disturbance (eight items, e.g., "woke up in the middle of the night or early morning") and daytime dysfunction (two items, e.g., "had trouble staying awake while driving, eating meals, or engaging in social activity," and "how much of a problem has it been for you to keep up enough enthusiasm to get things done"). Adolescents rated their daily nighttime disturbance and daytime dysfunction on a 4-point Likert scale (0 = not at all, 3 = a lot).…”

A protocol for applying health equity-informed implementation science models and frameworks to adapt a sleep intervention for adolescents at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors

“…Training for TSC interventionists will likely require adaptation to more explicitly focus on enhancing interventionists' cultural humility ( 79 ) and awareness of how clinician implicit and explicit racial and ethnic biases impact the clinical encounter ( 80 ). Interventionist training may also benefit from content-related adaptations to address the impacts of racism and discrimination on sleep ( 35 – 37 ). More specifically, the optional module on reducing sleep-related worry and/or hypervigilance could be adapted so that cognitive coping techniques are applied to adolescents' experiences of and stress related to racism and discrimination ( Table 1 ).…”

“…Black youth are more likely than their White peers to live in lower socioeconomic status (SES) homes and neighborhoods ( 25 , 26 ), which can contribute to poor sleep via environmental factors including high levels of light, noise, household crowding, and community violence ( 27 – 30 ). In addition, among Black and/or Latinx youth, exposure to racism and discrimination at multiple levels (i.e., systemic/institutional; personally mediated; internalized) ( 31 – 34 ) can contribute to sleep difficulties, including long sleep onset latency and poor sleep quality ( 35 , 36 ). For example, in a study of Black, Latinx, and Asian American youth, experiences of discrimination were associated with same-day sleep disturbances ( 37 ).…”

“…The few studies testing adolescent sleep interventions with Black and/or Latinx youth have shown lower acceptability ( 43 ) as well as diminished treatment response ( 44 ) in these groups compared to White youth. These poorer outcomes could be due to limited attention to salient socio-cultural and environmental factors ( 45 ), including the adverse impacts of racism and discrimination on sleep in minoritized youth ( 35 – 37 ). To ensure acceptability and effectiveness, a sleep intervention for Black and/or Latinx adolescents with depression and at risk for STB must be tailored to address these socio-cultural and environmental factors and disparities.…”