Partnership and Insomnia Status Among Mothers

Abstract

ObjectiveMothers are particularly vulnerable to sleep disorders, such as insomnia (i.e., poor sleep quality more than three times per week).BackgroundPartnership status (i.e., being married, formerly partnered, cohabiting, or lone) is predictive of other health outcomes via marital selection, protection, and crisis theories. However, research has yet to address whether mothers' risk of insomnia varies by their partnership status.MethodUsing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative and longitudinal cohort study (n = 1721), the primary aim of the present study is to test the association between partnership status and sleep. Further, given the association between race–ethnicity and partnership status, as well as race–ethnicity and sleep, this study also considers whether the association between mothers' partnership status and risk of insomnia varies by race and ethnicity.ResultsLogistic regression results suggest that married mothers are less likely than cohabiting and formerly partnered mothers to experience insomnia. No sleep differences were found when comparing among the unmarried groups.ConclusionWhen considering race and ethnicity, marriage is protective against insomnia among White and Hispanic mothers but not Black mothers.ImplicationsThis study illustrates one way in which partnership status contributes to sleep problems in different ways for White, Black, and Hispanic women.