Social determinants of sleep and sleep disparities among college students: The influence of childhood adversity, contemporaneous stress, and proximal behavioral mediators - PROJECT SUMMARY
Sufficient, high quality sleep is essential for mental focus, efficient cognitive functioning, and the maintenance
of physical health. Widespread sleep problems and insufficient sleep duration across the college years is
therefore a pressing public health concern that could also limit the economic and health benefits of higher
education. Furthermore, disparities in sleep between Black and White adults is an extremely concerning social
issue that inevitably serves to perpetuate ongoing group differences in socioeconomic attainment and health
across the life span. Significant gaps in the science of sleep and sleep disparities among college students
include inadequate attention to mechanisms for effects of childhood adversity or current stress, an absence of
studies utilizing objective measurements of sleep, and a lack of longitudinal research examining whether racial
disparities in sleep are present or widen across the college years. Utilizing a rigorous longitudinal design, this
study will significantly advance extant scientific understanding by examining how childhood adversity and
contemporaneous stress combine to influence sleep and sleep disparities among college students. The
degree to which behavioral factors salient in the college context (e.g., napping, bedtime variability, substance
use) operate as mediators of stress-sleep links will also be examined to enhance mechanistic understanding
and illuminate likely loci of intervention. The proposed sample of 240 first and second year students (50%
Black, 50% female, ages 18-21) will be assessed across two time points, one year apart. Assessments of
childhood adversity and contemporaneous stress will be more comprehensive than in any prior study
examining determinants of sleep. Childhood adversity assessments will include established measures of
adverse childhood experiences, family socioeconomic risk, and objective indicators of neighborhood and
school disadvantage. Contemporaneous stress assessments will include established measures of daily
hassles (academic and social), stressful life events, experiences of discrimination, campus racial climate, and
chronic vigilance to unfair treatment. Sleep assessments will be multi-faceted, including both actigraphy and
self-report measures. Activity monitors, worn on the non-dominant wrist for seven consecutive days will be
used to assess total sleep time, sleep efficiency (% of time in bed asleep), time spent awake after sleep onset,
and variability in bedtime and total sleep time. This study will be the first to examine whether racial disparities
in objectively measured sleep characteristics are present or widen across the college years. Findings will add
critical evidence on determinants of student sleep and sleep disparities, the implications of which are of high
importance for enhancing the economic and health benefits of higher education, and addressing enduring
racial disparities in health and wealth. Overall, the rigorous and comprehensive methods employed—alongside
novel and significant research questions—allow for unprecedented opportunities to advance understanding of
sleep and sleep disparities among college students, and illuminate vital targets for intervention.
