Chronic stress exposure, social support, and sleep quality among African Americans: findings from the National Survey of American Life-Reinterview

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether social support from extended family and church members moderate the association between chronic stress exposure and sleep quality in a nationally representative sample of African American adults. Design Data from African American respondents aged 18 and older were drawn from the National Survey of American Life-Reinterview. The analytic sample for this study included 1,372 African American adults who attended religious services at least a few times a year, as the church-based relationship measures were only assessed for these individuals. Self-reported sleep quality was assessed by sleep satisfaction, trouble falling asleep, and restless sleep. Chronic stress exposure was measured by a nine-item index. OLS and logistic regression were used to estimate the relationship between chronic stress exposure, extended family and church relationships, and sleep quality. Results The data indicated that chronic stress exposure was associated with decreased sleep satisfaction, increased likelihood of trouble falling asleep and restless sleep. Receiving emotional support from family and more frequent contact with church members were associated with decreased restless sleep. Emotional family support moderated the associations between chronic stress exposure and trouble falling asleep and restless sleep. The positive associations between chronic stress exposure and these two sleep quality measures were attenuated among respondents who received high levels of emotional support from their family. Conclusions Together, these findings underscore the detriment of chronic stress exposure to African Americans’ sleep quality and suggest that extended family members are effective stress coping resources and play an important role in this population’s sleep quality.