Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
Sleep. 2021 Mar 12;44(3). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa185.
Stigmatized youth experience poorer sleep than those who have not experienced stigma. However, no studies have examined the sleep of gender minority adolescents (GMAs). Examining sleep disparities between GMAs and non-GMAs is critical because poor sleep is associated with mental health outcomes experienced disproportionately by GMAs. We examined sleep duration, sleep problems, and sleep quality among our sample and compared these parameters between GMAs and non-GMAs.
Adolescents aged 14-18 years (n = 1,027 GMA, n = 329 heterosexual non-GMA, n = 415 sexual minority non-GMA; mean age = 16 years; 83% female sex at birth) completed a cross-sectional online survey, reporting sex assigned at birth and current gender identity, sleep duration, sleep problems (too much/too little sleep and inadequate sleep), sleep quality, and depressive symptoms.
Accounting for demographic covariates, GMAs were more likely to report inadequate sleep and shorter sleep duration and had higher odds of reporting poor sleep quality and getting too little/too much sleep than heterosexual non-GMAs. After also adjusting for depressive symptoms, the finding that GMAs more often reported poor sleep quality remained significant.
This first large, nationwide survey of sleep among GMAs suggests that GMAs may be more likely to have poor sleep than non-GMAs. The significance of our results was reduced when adjusting for depressive symptoms, suggesting that poorer sleep may occur in the context of depression for GMAs. Future work should include objective measures of sleep, examine the emergence of sleep disparities among GMAs and non-GMAs, and explore pathways that increase risk for poor sleep among GMAs.
有污名的青年比没有经历污名的青年睡眠质量更差。然而，目前还没有研究调查性别少数青少年（GMAs）的睡眠情况。研究 GMAs 和非 GMAs 之间的睡眠差异至关重要，因为睡眠质量差与 GMAs 不成比例地经历的心理健康结果有关。我们检查了我们样本中的睡眠时间、睡眠问题和睡眠质量，并比较了 GMAs 和非 GMAs 之间的这些参数。
年龄在 14-18 岁之间的青少年（n = 1027 名 GMA、n = 329 名异性恋非 GMA、n = 415 名性少数非 GMA；平均年龄为 16 岁；出生时 83%为女性）完成了一项横断面在线调查，报告出生时的性别和当前的性别认同、睡眠时间、睡眠问题（睡眠过多/过少和睡眠不足）、睡眠质量和抑郁症状。
在考虑人口统计学协变量的情况下，与异性恋非 GMA 相比，GMAs 更有可能报告睡眠不足和睡眠时间较短，并且更有可能报告睡眠质量差、睡眠过多/过少。在还调整了抑郁症状后，GMAs 更常报告睡眠质量差的发现仍然具有统计学意义。
这是第一项关于 GMAs 睡眠的大型全国性调查，表明 GMAs 的睡眠质量可能比非 GMAs 差。在调整抑郁症状后，我们的结果的重要性降低，这表明 GMAs 的睡眠质量差可能发生在抑郁的背景下。未来的工作应该包括对睡眠的客观测量，研究 GMAs 和非 GMAs 之间睡眠差异的出现，并探索增加 GMAs 睡眠质量差风险的途径。
