Sleep duration among adults exposed to family member incarceration during childhood

Dylan B Jackson; Alexander Testa; Daniel C Semenza; Christopher N Kaufmann; Adam P Spira

doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2023.07.009

Sleep duration among adults exposed to family member incarceration during childhood

Sleep Health. 2023 Oct;9(5):680-687. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2023.07.009. Epub 2023 Aug 26.

Authors

Dylan B Jackson¹, Alexander Testa², Daniel C Semenza³, Christopher N Kaufmann⁴, Adam P Spira⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Electronic address: dylan.jackson@jhu.edu.
² Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
³ Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁵ Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

PMID: 37640628
DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2023.07.009

Abstract

Objectives: The current study examines the association between family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration among a national sample of adults (ages 18-80+).

Methods: We employ data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 116,631). We use stepwise, multinomial logistic regression to examine associations between exposure to family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration during adulthood. We also utilize the Karlson-Holm-Breen method to investigate whether indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage, and poor mental and physical health attenuate this relationship. Finally, to examine the robustness of associations between family member incarceration and sleep duration, we used a strategic comparison approach in which participants experiencing family member incarceration were compared to participants experiencing alternative adverse childhood experiences in the absence of family member incarceration.

Results: Findings demonstrate a significant association between family member incarceration and sleep duration, with particularly strong associations with short and long sleep durations (relative to optimum sleep duration). However, poor mental and physical health during adulthood and socioeconomic disadvantage significantly attenuated these associations. Strategic comparison models also revealed that the association between family member incarceration during childhood and sleep duration is robust to the accumulation of other childhood adversities.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that strategies are needed among public health practitioners, physicians, and sleep professionals to mitigate the potential adverse effects of family member incarceration during childhood on sleep duration among adults.

Keywords: Adults; Family; Health; Incarceration; Sleep duration; Socioeconomic disadvantage.