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. 2025 May;44(5):498-508.
doi: 10.1037/hea0001470.

State-level structural racism and sleep disturbances among Black and Latinx adolescents: Findings from the adolescent brain cognitive development study

Youchuan Zhang  1 , Zhenqiang Zhao  2 , Yijie Wang  1
Affiliations

State-level structural racism and sleep disturbances among Black and Latinx adolescents: Findings from the adolescent brain cognitive development study

Youchuan Zhang et al. Health Psychol. 2025 May.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Objective: Existing research highlights interpersonal ethnic-racial discrimination as a contributing factor to sleep disparities among ethnic-racial minoritized adolescents. However, limited research has examined the impact of structural racism, the root cause of interpersonal discrimination, on sleep disturbances. The current study examined how structural racism within the state where an adolescent resided influenced sleep disturbances among ethnic-racial minoritized adolescents, both conjointly and interactively with their experiences of interpersonal discrimination.

Method: Drawing on longitudinal data from Black and non-White Latinx adolescents in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, path analysis was conducted to examine how state-level structural racism predicted sleep disturbances and moderated the association between interpersonal discrimination and sleep disturbances. We further explored how these effects varied by demographic factors of ethnicity-race, immigration status, and family socioeconomic status. Separate analyses were conducted for male and female adolescents.

Results: Structural racism directly predicted more sleep disturbances subsequently for male adolescents; structural racism exacerbated the positive association between interpersonal discrimination and female adolescents' sleep disturbances. These effects were more pronounced for non-White Latinx (vs. Black) adolescents, adolescents from immigrant (vs. nonimmigrant) families, and for adolescents with lower (vs. higher) family socioeconomic status.

Conclusion: The findings highlight state-level structural racism as a feasible and promising target for systemic change and policy reform to improve the sleep health of ethnic-racial minoritized adolescents and promote health equity. Findings also provided valuable insights in terms of what and for whom future research and intervention efforts should target to mitigate the sleep disturbances linked to structural racism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objetivo:: Las investigaciones existentes destacan la discriminación étnico-racial interpersonal como un factor que contribuye a las disparidades de sueño entre los adolescentes minorizados étnico-raciales. Sin embargo, una investigación limitada ha examinado el impacto del racismo estructural, la causa fundamental de la discriminación interpersonal, en los trastornos del sueño. El presente estudio examinó cómo el racismo estructural dentro del estado donde residía un adolescente influyó en los trastornos del sueño entre los adolescentes minorizados étnico-raciales, tanto de forma conjunta como interactiva con sus experiencias de discriminación interpersonal.

Métodos:: basándose en datos longitudinales de adolescentes latinos negros y no blancos en el estudio “Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development” (ABCD, por sus siglas en inglés), se realizó un análisis de ruta para examinar cómo el racismo estructural a nivel estatal predijo los trastornos del sueño y moderó la asociación entre la discriminación interpersonal y los trastornos del sueño. Exploramos más a fondo cómo estos efectos variaban según los factores demográficos de etnia-raza, estatus migratorio y estatus económico familiar (SES, por sus siglas en inglés). Se realizaron análisis separados para adolescentes masculinos y femeninos.

Resultados:: El racismo estructural predijo directamente más alteraciones del sueño posteriormente en los adolescentes varones; El racismo estructural exacerbó la asociación positiva entre la discriminación interpersonal y los trastornos del sueño de las adolescentes. Estos efectos fueron más pronunciados para los adolescentes Latinxs no Blancos (comparado a los Negros), los adolescentes de familias inmigrantes (comparado a los no inmigrantes) y para los adolescentes con un SES familiar más bajo (comparado a uno más alto).

Conclusiones:: Los hallazgos destacan el racismo estructural a nivel estatal como un objetivo factible y prometedor para el cambio sistémico y la reforma de políticas para mejorar la salud del sueño de los adolescentes minorizados étnico-raciales y promover la equidad en salud. Los hallazgos también proporcionaron información valiosa sobre qué y para quién deberían dirigirse las futuras investigaciones e intervenciones para mitigar los trastornos del sueño relacionados con el racismo estructural.

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