Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 28;19(7):4021. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074021.
Greater exposure to racial/ethnic discrimination among pregnant Black American women is associated with elevated prenatal depressive symptomatology, poorer prenatal sleep quality, and poorer child health outcomes. Given the transdiagnostic importance of early childhood sleep health, we examined associations between pregnant women's lifetime exposure to racial/ethnic discrimination and their two-year-old children's sleep health. We also examined women's gendered racial stress as a predictor variable. In exploratory analyses, we examined prenatal sleep quality and prenatal depressive symptoms as potential mediators of the prior associations. We utilized data from a sample of Black American women and children ( = 205). Women self-reported their lifetime experiences of discrimination during early pregnancy, their sleep quality and depressive symptoms during mid-pregnancy, and their children's sleep health at age two. Hierarchical linear multiple regression models were fit to examine direct associations between women's experiences of discrimination and children's sleep health. We tested our mediation hypotheses using a parallel mediator model. Higher levels of gendered racial stress, but not racial/ethnic discrimination, were directly associated with poorer sleep health in children. Higher levels of racial/ethnic discrimination were indirectly associated with poorer sleep health in children, via women's prenatal depressive symptomatology, but not prenatal sleep quality. Clinical efforts to mitigate the effects of discrimination on Black American women may benefit women's prenatal mental health and their children's sleep health.
美国黑人孕妇经历更多种族/民族歧视与孕期抑郁症状加重、产前睡眠质量下降和儿童健康状况恶化有关。鉴于儿童早期睡眠健康的跨诊断重要性，我们研究了孕妇一生中经历的种族/民族歧视与其两岁儿童睡眠健康之间的关联。我们还将女性的性别种族压力作为预测变量进行了研究。在探索性分析中，我们研究了产前睡眠质量和产前抑郁症状作为先前关联的潜在中介变量。我们利用了一项美国黑人妇女及其子女的样本数据（n=205）。孕妇在怀孕中期报告了她们一生中经历的歧视、怀孕期间的睡眠质量和抑郁症状，以及她们两岁孩子的睡眠健康。我们使用分层线性多元回归模型来检验女性歧视经历与儿童睡眠健康之间的直接关联。我们使用并行中介模型来检验我们的中介假设。更高水平的性别种族压力，而不是种族/民族歧视，与儿童睡眠健康较差直接相关。更高水平的种族/民族歧视通过女性的产前抑郁症状与儿童睡眠健康较差间接相关，而不是通过产前睡眠质量。减轻歧视对美国黑人妇女影响的临床努力可能会有益于妇女的产前心理健康和她们孩子的睡眠健康。
