a Center for Health Equity Research , Department of Social Medicine and School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , North Carolina.
b Institute of African American Research , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , North Carolina.
Behav Sleep Med. 2018 Sep-Oct;16(5):471-481. doi: 10.1080/15402002.2016.1228648. Epub 2016 Oct 3.
African Americans experience more problematic and disordered sleep than White Americans. Racial discrimination has been implicated in this disparity. However, the mechanisms by which discrimination disrupts sleep are unclear. It has been theorized that Perseverative Cognition (PC), characterized by recurrent patterns of reflective (i.e., rumination) and anticipatory (i.e., worry) negative thinking about personally relevant stressors, may reflect the functional mechanism linking discrimination to sleep. The present study is the first to empirically examine the dual components of PC as a candidate functional mechanism in the association between racial discrimination and subjective sleep quality.
Sixty-eight self-identified African American college students (55.9% female; M = 20.18, SD = 2.93) were recruited at a large predominantly white public university in the Midwest.
The participants completed the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (PEDQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), and Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS).
After adjusting for age, gender, and social class, results revealed a significant indirect effect of racial discrimination (RD) on subjective sleep quality through rumination, 95% CI [.008, .125], but not worry. RD was positively associated with rumination, b =.50, SE =.16, p = .003, and rumination, in turn, was positively associated with poorer sleep quality, b = .09, SE = .04, p = .012.
As both RD and poor sleep quality have been directly linked to heart disease, diabetes, depression, and a number of other maladies, our findings suggest that RD, sleep, and coping strategies (e.g., rumination) employed to manage RD experiences may be important targets for addressing racial disparities in health.
非裔美国人比白种美国人经历更多的睡眠问题和睡眠障碍。种族歧视被认为是造成这种差异的原因之一。然而，歧视破坏睡眠的机制尚不清楚。有人推测，持续性认知（PC），其特征是反复出现与个人相关压力源有关的反射性（即沉思）和预期性（即担忧）消极思维模式，可能反映了将歧视与睡眠联系起来的功能机制。本研究首次实证检验了 PC 的双重成分作为种族歧视与主观睡眠质量之间关联的候选功能机制。
在中西部一所大型以白人为主的公立大学，招募了 68 名自认为是非洲裔美国大学生（55.9%为女性；M = 20.18，SD = 2.93）。
参与者完成了感知种族歧视问卷（PEDQ）、匹兹堡睡眠质量指数（PSQI）、宾夕法尼亚州担忧问卷（PSWQ）和沉思反应量表（RRS）。
在调整年龄、性别和社会阶层后，结果显示种族歧视（RD）通过沉思对主观睡眠质量的间接影响具有统计学意义，95%CI [.008，.125]，但担忧则不然。RD 与沉思呈正相关，b =.50，SE =.16，p =.003，沉思又与较差的睡眠质量呈正相关，b =.09，SE =.04，p =.012。
由于 RD 和睡眠质量差都与心脏病、糖尿病、抑郁症和许多其他疾病直接相关，我们的研究结果表明，RD、睡眠和应对策略（例如沉思）可能是解决健康方面种族差异的重要目标。
