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. 2022 Feb 23;19(5):2562.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052562.

Sleep and Economic Status Are Linked to Daily Life Stress in African-Born Blacks Living in America

Zoe C Waldman  1 , Blayne R Schenk  1 , Marie Grace Duhuze Karera  1   2   3 , Arielle C Patterson  1 , Thomas Hormenu  1   4 , Lilian S Mabundo  1 , Christopher W DuBose  1 , Ram Jagannathan  5 , Peter L Whitesell  6 , Annemarie Wentzel  1 , Margrethe F Horlyck-Romanovsky  1   7 , Anne E Sumner  1   2
Affiliations

Sleep and Economic Status Are Linked to Daily Life Stress in African-Born Blacks Living in America

Zoe C Waldman et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

To identify determinants of daily life stress in Africans in America, 156 African-born Blacks (Age: 40 ± 10 years (mean ± SD), range 22-65 years) who came to the United States as adults (age ≥ 18 years) were asked about stress, sleep, behavior and socioeconomic status. Daily life stress and sleep quality were assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. High-stress was defined by the threshold of the upper quartile of population distribution of PSS (≥16) and low-stress as PSS < 16. Poor sleep quality required PSQI > 5. Low income was defined as <40 k yearly. In the high and low-stress groups, PSS were: 21 ± 4 versus 9 ± 4, p < 0.001 and PSQI were: 6 ± 3 versus 4 ± 3, p < 0.001, respectively. PSS and PSQI were correlated (r = 0.38, p < 0.001). The odds of high-stress were higher among those with poor sleep quality (OR 5.11, 95% CI: 2.07, 12.62), low income (OR 5.03, 95% CI: 1.75, 14.47), and no health insurance (OR 3.01, 95% CI: 1.19, 8.56). Overall, in African-born Blacks living in America, daily life stress appears to be linked to poor quality sleep and exacerbated by low income and lack of health insurance.

Keywords: African immigrants; perceived stress; sleep quality; socioeconomic status.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders (the NIH intramural programs of NIDDK and NIMHD) had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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