Bidirectional Relations Between Daily Stress and Sleep Among Black Emerging Adults

Abstract

Background Black adults experience higher levels of stress and more dysfunctional sleep patterns compared to their White peers, both of which may contribute to racial disparities in chronic health conditions. Dysfunctional sleep patterns are also more likely in emerging adults compared to other age groups. Daily stress–sleep relations in Black emerging adults are understudied. Purpose This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and wrist-worn actigraphy to examine bidirectional associations between daily stress and sleep among Black emerging adults. Methods Black college freshmen (N = 50) completed an EMA protocol (i.e., five EMA prompts/day) and wore an accelerometer for 7 days. The first EMA prompt of each day assessed sleep duration and quality. All EMA prompts assessed stress. Wrist-worn actigraphy assessed nocturnal sleep duration, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, and waking after sleep onset. Results At the within-person level, stress experienced on a given day was not associated with any sleep metrics that night (p > .05). On evenings when actigraphy-based sleep duration was shorter (B = −0.02, p = .01) and self-reported sleep quality was poorer (B = −0.12, p = .02) than usual, stress was greater the following day. At the between-person level, negative bidirectional relations existed between stress and actigraphy-based waking after sleep onset (stress predicting sleep: B = −0.35, p = .02; sleep predicting stress: B = −0.27, p = .04). Conclusions Among Black emerging adults, associations between daily sleep and stress vary at the between- and within-person level and are dependent upon the sleep metric assessed. Future research should compare these relations across different measures of stress and different racial/ethnic groups to better understand health disparities.

Use of Electronic Ecological Momentary Assessment Methodologies in Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Sleep Research in Young Adults: Systematic Review

“…No studies reported blinding of assessors, which was expected, as most studies had observational designs. In total, 6 studies included adequate justification for the selected sample size [ 50 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 78 ], such as a power analysis [ 58 , 60 , 78 ] or another evidence supporting the argument for sample size or number of data points needed for analysis [ 50 , 55 , 57 ]. A total of 15 studies reported an attrition rate ≤20% [ 48 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 55 , 56 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 67 , 68 , 70 , 74 , 76 ].…”

“…In total, 43% (16/37) of the reports included measures of sleep. In these 16 reports, sleep was measured using accelerometry (10/16, 63%) [ 51 , 52 , 58 , 60 , 67 - 69 , 72 , 76 , 77 ], recall diaries or questionnaires (9/16, 56%) [ 51 , 52 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 63 , 69 , 71 , 78 ], and eEMA (3/16, 19%) [ 55 , 62 , 67 ]. Most studies included measures of both sleep duration and sleep quality [ 61 , 63 , 71 , 78 ].…”

“…All 3 of these studies included eEMA to collect data on physical activity and sedentary behavior. In addition, 8 studies included measures of physical activity and sleep [ 55 , 58 , 61 , 62 , 67 , 68 , 76 , 77 ]. Of these studies, 3 used eEMA [ 55 , 62 , 67 ], 5 used accelerometry [ 58 , 67 , 68 , 76 , 77 ], and 1 used recall surveys [ 61 ] to measure physical activity and sleep.…”

“…In addition, 8 studies included measures of physical activity and sleep [ 55 , 58 , 61 , 62 , 67 , 68 , 76 , 77 ]. Of these studies, 3 used eEMA [ 55 , 62 , 67 ], 5 used accelerometry [ 58 , 67 , 68 , 76 , 77 ], and 1 used recall surveys [ 61 ] to measure physical activity and sleep. Of the studies that included 2 movement behaviors, 10 (91%) of 11 studies used the same data collection modalities (eg, eEMA, accelerometry, and recall surveys) to measure both of the included movement behaviors [ 42 , 45 , 48 , 55 , 61 , 62 , 67 , 68 , 76 , 77 ], and 4 studies included >1 data collection modality, such as eEMA with accelerometry [ 45 , 48 , 58 , 67 ].…”

“…eEMA was often used to measure the correlates of movement behaviors rather than or in addition to the movement behaviors themselves. The most common correlates measured using eEMA were related to mood, affect, and feelings such as stress [ 57 , 58 , 61 , 66 - 69 , 74 , 77 , 78 ]; negative and positive affective states [ 49 , 51 , 52 , 69 , 71 , 73 , 75 , 76 ]; urges [ 44 , 51 ]; depressive symptoms [ 54 , 68 , 72 , 76 ]; anxious states [ 50 , 54 , 68 , 76 ]; fatigue [ 46 , 54 ]; and other emotional states [ 50 , 55 , 63 , 67 , 72 , 77 ], which allows not only the analysis of these variables with movement behaviors but also the exploration of emotional inertia, variability, and stability [ 50 , 76 ]. eEMA was also used to measure reflective and reactive cognitive processes specific to physical activity, sedentary behavior, or sleep [ 45 , 49 , 53 , 56 , 60 ].…”