Poster #103 - Perceived discrimination and adolescents’ well-being: Sleep as a moderator

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Experiences of unfair treatment and perceived discrimination have long-term adverse effects on adolescents’ mental health (Huynh & Fulingi, 2010). Such experiences have been implicated as a contributor to health disparities in adulthood. Identification of variables that can amplify or ameliorate against the negative effects of perceived discrimination is warranted. Sleep is pivotal for mental health in youth (Kelly & El-Sheikh, 2014). A small but growing literature has documented associations between perceived discrimination, subjective sleep problems, and mental health problems among youth (Yip, 2016). However, the assessment of sleep as a moderator in this context is almost non-existent (Yip, 2016). Advancing the scarce literature, the main objective of this study was to examine objectively assessed sleep duration as a moderator of associations between perceived discrimination and internalizing and externalizing problems. We expected that longer sleep may lessen adjustment problems that may be otherwise associated with higher levels of perceived discrimination.

A socioeconomically diverse community sample of 220 adolescents (Mage = 17.7 years, SD = .78; 44% male; 30% Black/African American (AA), 70% White/European American (EA)) participated. Sleep duration (actual sleep minutes from sleep onset to wake time excluding night awakenings) was examined with actigraphs for 7 consecutive nights. Validated hardware and software were used to estimate sleep duration using Octagonal Basic Motionlogger actigraphs (Ambulatory Monitoring, Ardsley, NY). Utilizing well-established measures, adolescents reported on their perceptions of everyday discrimination (Williams et al., 2000) and internalizing and externalizing problems (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).

Path models were fit to examine sleep duration as a moderator of associations between discrimination and various developmental outcomes. Preliminary analyses controlled for potential confounds (e.g., age, race). A consistent pattern of interaction effects emerged and illustrated that associations between perceived discrimination and internalizing symptoms were moderated by sleep duration.

For example, although the slopes representing the associations between discrimination (e.g., receiving poor treatment in stores and restaurants; treated with less respect than others) and internalizing and anxiety symptoms were significantly different from zero for adolescents with both short (5.6 hours) and long sleep (7.6 hours), associations were more pronounced for youth with shorter sleep (Fig. 1). Further, differences in the predicted means for internalizing problems for youth with short (M = 60.8) and long (M = 52.9) sleep was more pronounced at high levels of perceived discrimination, a difference of .64 SD. Conversely, at lower levels of discrimination, predicted means were similar for adolescents regardless of their sleep. Further analyses will examine interactions between discrimination and multiple sleep quality parameters as predictors of youths’ well-being.

Findings build on a scant literature and are supportive of dual-risk perspectives where poor sleep exacerbates the detrimental effects of discriminatory experiences on the well-being of adolescents. Sleep is amenable to intervention, and its incorporation into prevention and intervention programs may aid in reducing adjustment problems associated with environmental stress as youth transition toward new contexts and experiences in adulthood.

Authors

• Ekjyot Kaur Saini, Auburn University
  Presenting Author

• Olivia Martin-Piñon, Auburn University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mona El-Sheikh, Auburn University
  Non-Presenting Author