Sexual Minority Status and Sleep Quality: The Role of Sexual Abuse, Perceived Stress, and Depressive Symptoms

• In Event: Understanding the Developmental Context of Sleep Health among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Abstract

Considering that poor sleep is associated with a number of physical and mental health problems (Irwin, 2015), it is concerning that a growing body of research indicates that sexual minority individuals have more sleep difficulties compared to their heterosexual peers (Patterson & Potter, 2019). Little research, however, has examined what may account for the disparities in sleep between lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), and heterosexual people. Thus, this study aimed to explore factors that are associated with sleep quality among LGB and heterosexual young adults. We particularly focused on the roles of sexual abuse, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms as previous research has demonstrated that these variables are associated with sleep (Drake et al., 2004; Steine et al., 2012). Sexual minority individuals have also reported greater frequency of sexual abuse in childhood and adulthood (Balsam et al., 2005), higher levels of perceived stress (Krueger et al., 2018), and more depressive symptoms (Marshal et al., 2011) than heterosexual individuals. We hypothesized that sexual minority status would be associated with poor sleep quality indirectly through the higher frequency of sexual abuse in childhood and adulthood, and greater perceived stress and depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted among cisgender sexual minority (n = 324) and heterosexual young adults (n = 157) aged from 21 to 34 years in the United States. Participants completed an online survey that assessed sexual orientation, gender, sleep quality, experiences of sexual abuse in childhood and adulthood, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms. Path analysis was performed to test the hypotheses of the study. As expected, sexual minority status was directly associated with higher frequency of sexual abuse in childhood (β = .18, p < .001) and adulthood (β = .10, p = .019), greater perceived stress (β = .15, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (β = .07, p = .019), and poorer sleep quality (β = .15, p < .001). In addition, sexual minority status was indirectly associated with poorer sleep quality via an increased risk of sexual abuse in childhood and adulthood, and more perceived stress and depressive symptoms, B = 0.99, SE = 0.20, BC 95% CI [0.62, 1.41], β = .13. Overall, our findings suggest the importance of sexual abuse, stress, and depressive symptoms in sleep quality among LGB and heterosexual young adults. The results highlight the need for prevention and intervention efforts to promote sleep and well-being among members of sexual minorities.

Authors

• Sueyoung Oh, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Charlotte J Patterson, University of Virginia - Charlottesville