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. 2020 May;91(3):914-931.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13234. Epub 2019 Apr 3.

Racial Disparities in Sleep: Associations With Discrimination Among Ethnic/Racial Minority Adolescents

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Racial Disparities in Sleep: Associations With Discrimination Among Ethnic/Racial Minority Adolescents

Tiffany Yip et al. Child Dev. 2020 May.

Abstract

This study investigates the same-day associations between discrimination and sleep among 350 adolescents ages 13-15 (M = 14.29, SD = 0.65; Asian = 41%, Black = 22%, Latinx = 37%). Assessing sleep duration, sleep onset latency, and wake minutes after sleep onset using wrist actigraphy, Black adolescents slept 35 min less than Asian and 36 min less than Latinx youth. Black adolescents suffered the most wake minutes after sleep onset, followed by Latinx and Asian youth. Latinx youth reported the highest levels of sleep disturbance, whereas Asian youth reported the highest levels of daytime dysfunction. Daily discrimination was associated with lower levels of same-night sleep onset latency, more sleep disturbance, more next-day daytime dysfunction, and higher next-day daytime sleepiness.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Sleep duration by race. The bars indicate the mean sleep duration adjusted by gender and day type (weekday v. weekend). Asian and Latinx adolescents slept significantly more than Black adolescents, p < .05.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Wake after sleep onset (WASO) by race. The bars indicate the mean WASO adjusted by gender and day type (weekday vs. weekend). Black and Latinx adolescents had significantly more wake minutes after sleep onset than Asian adolescents, p < .01. Black adolescents had significantly more wake minutes after sleep onset than Latinx adolescents, p < .01.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) sleep disturbance by race. The bars indicate the mean sleep disturbance adjusted by gender and day type (weekday vs. weekend). Latinx adolescents had significantly more sleep disturbance than Asian adolescents, p < .01.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) daytime dysfunction by race. The bars indicate the mean daytime dysfunction adjusted by gender and day type (weekday vs. weekend). Asian adolescents had significantly more daytime dysfunction than Black and Latinx adolescents, p < .05.

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