Association of Economic and Racial Stress with Sleep Disturbance among African American College Students: The Moderating Effect of Kin Support

• In Event: The Influence of Family Relationships: A Snapshot in Four Contexts Across Three Developmental Stages

Abstract

Introduction. Theoretical models suggest that stressful experiences such as economic inequities and systemic racism are linked to poor adjustment and competency outcomes among ethnic minority youth (García Coll et al., 1996). Specifically, among college students, sleep quality has been negatively associated with stressful daily experiences (Fuligni & Hadway, 2006). Poor mental health has also been linked to increased sleep problems (Brooks et al., 2009). Notably, sleep disturbance is related to poor physical and psychological functioning including anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion in emerging adults (Buboltz et al., 2006; Krenek, 2006). Conceptual models have suggested that social and cultural adaptations cultivated within families, such as extended family networks, may offset the effects of economic and social disparities (García Coll et al., 1996; Taylor et al., 2014). In the present study, we examined the moderating effects of kin support on the negative associations between stressful experiences (inadequate family financial resources and collective racism) and sleep disturbance.

Hypotheses. It was predicted that inadequate resources and collective racism would be significantly associated with sleep disturbance and that kin support would moderate the links
Study Population. African American undergraduate students (N = 152, 83.55% female, Mage = 21.72, SD = 4.68) were recruited from a large public university in the northeastern region of the United States. The median combined parental income for the sample was $50,000 - $60,000.

Methods. Kinship support was measured with a series of questions taken from Taylor et al. (1993). The adequacy of family financial resources was assessed with the Family Resource Scale (Dunst & Leet, 1987). Participants’ experiences of collective racism were assessed with the Index of Race-Related Stress (IRRS; Utsey & Ponterotto, 1996). Sleep disturbance was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al., 1989). The PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013) for SPSS was used to examine the interactions between the moderator (kin support) and the two independent variables (adequacy of family resources and collective racism) on the dependent variable (sleep disturbance).

Results. Findings demonstrated support for moderating effects of kin support such that adequacy of family resources maintained a negative association with sleep disturbance at low (B = -0.13, p < .001) and moderate (B = -0.08, p < .001), but not at high (B = -0.03, p = 0.31) levels of kin support. Similar moderating effects of kin support were present in the interaction with collective racism. Participants who experienced higher levels of stress from collective racism reported more sleep disturbances at low (B = 0.47, p < .001) and moderate (B = 0.24, p < .01) levels of kin support. However, at high levels of kin support, increases in collective racism did not correlate with increases in sleep disturbance (B = 0.02, p = 0.84). Kinship support buffered against the negative effect of experienced collective racism on sleep (Figure 2). The results indicate that high kin support may act as a protective factor against stress among African American college students. Moreover, the absence of support from kin may in fact exacerbate the negative effects of stress on sleep.

Authors

• Motunrayo Olaniyan, Temple University
  Presenting Author

• Azeb Gebre, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ronald D Taylor, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author