Sex and racial/ethnic differences in sleep quality and its relationship with body weight status among US college students

Abstract

Objective: To examine sex and racial/ethnic differences in sleep quality and the association between sleep quality and body weight status among US college students. Participants: A nationally representative sample (N = 324,767) of college students from 2011 to 2015. Methods: A secondary data analysis of cross-sectional data. Results: Women showed poorer sleep quality (nights per week getting enough sleep to feel rested) than men (4.00 versus 4.34 days; p < .001). In both men and women, compared with non-Hispanic whites, racial/ethnic minorities showed lower sleep quality (p < .001). Compared with normal weight participants, overweight participants had poorer sleep quality (p = .007) among men, and both overweight (p = .004) and obese participants (p < .001) had lower sleep quality among women. Conclusions: Understanding sex and racial/ethnic sleep differences and the association between sleep and body weight status is important for colleges to promote college students’ healthy sleep.

Keywords:

• Body mass index
• college students
• differences
• race/ethnicity
• sex
• sleep

Acknowledgments

The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of USA and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the lead author’s institution.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the lead author's institution.