Race as a Potential Moderator of the Association between Dysfunctional Beliefs about Sleep and Global Sleep Health

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are associated with components of sleep health, but their association with global sleep health is understudied. Beliefs about sleep may systematically vary by race, which may influence the association between dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and global sleep health. This study aimed to investigate whether race influences the association between dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and global sleep health.

Methods

Data were collected as part of an online survey. Participants were Black (n = 181) and White (n = 179) adults who were matched on age, self-reported sex, and level of education. Global sleep health was measured using the RU-SATED and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were measured using the DBAS-16. Moderation analyses were conducted to investigate whether race moderated the association between DBAS-16 total and subscale scores and RU-SATED total scores.

Results

Race moderated the associations between DBAS-16 total score and subscale scores and RU-SATED total score (b = 0.54, p < .001). Higher DBAS-16 scores were significantly associated with lower RU-SATED scores in the white sample, while this association was not significant in the Black sample, except for the Sleep Expectations subscale, where the association was not significant in the White sample, and it was significant in the Black sample.

Conclusions

These findings highlight that the association between dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and global sleep health may systematically vary by race which may have implications for promoting sleep health equity in racial minority populations through clinical and advocacy work. Future studies are needed to investigate what specific factors may be impacting these unique associations.

Acknowledgments

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Sleep Foundation or National Institutes of Health. Dr Dautovich serves as a sleep consultant for the National Sleep Foundation and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. Dr Dzierzewski served on an advisory panel for Eisai Pharmaceuticals.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request to corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AG049955 (PI: Dzierzewski).