Generalized stress and sleep hygiene explain the relationship between sexual/gender identity and sleep quality

Abstract

Introduction

Typically, LGBTQ + people sleep more poorly than their cisgender heterosexual (cishet) counterparts. However, there is a lack of literature investigating the impact of different lifestyle/psychosocial factors, outside of minority stress, on the negative relationship between being a sexual/gender identity minority and sleep quality. The current study aims to help fill critical gaps in the literature by looking at the effects generalized stress, COVID-19-related stress, social support, and sleep hygiene have on this relationship.

Methods

Two hundred and seventy-three participants (74 LGBTQ+; 199 cishet), recruited online, completed a series of questionnaires assessing sleep quality, sleep hygiene, generalized stress, minority stress, COVID-19-related stress, and social support.

Results

Analyses showed that LGBTQ + participants reported worse sleep quality, higher levels of generalized stress and COVID-19 stress, and smaller social networks than their cishet peers. Generalized stress fully mediated the relationship between sexual/gender identity and sleep while sleep hygiene partially mediated the relationship between generalized stress and sleep quality. Social support and COVID-19-related stress did not moderate the relationship between generalized stress and sleep.

Conclusion

Worse sleep quality in LGBTQ + than cishet adults is explained by differences in generalized stress and sleep hygiene. Stress management and sleep hygiene interventions may help prevent the negative associations between being LGBTQ + and poor sleep quality.

Keywords:

• LGBTQ+
• sleep quality
• stress
• social support
• sleep hygiene

Acknowledgments

We are thankful for the volunteers who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

This research study was approved by the Georgia Institute of Technology Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data through Open Practices Disclosure. The data are openly accessible at https://osf.io/7ha65/?view_only=792f965d55f149319b7317496c182e54. To obtain the author’s disclosure form, please contact the Editor.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Jess Campbell, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by National Science Foundation Grant #1850802 awarded to Audrey Duarte.