Factors associated with sleep disturbance in women of Mexican descent.
OBJECTIVE
The aims were to identify the most useful parameters of acculturation in relation to self-reported sleep disturbance and describe risk factors for sleep disturbance in women of Mexican descent.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about acculturation as a factor for poor sleep in the context of other personal factors such as income or sense of resilience or mastery for Latinas in the United States.


METHODS
This study was a secondary analysis of cross sectional survey data.


METHODS
Personal factors were incorporated into a modification of the conceptual framework of impaired sleep to guide our secondary analysis of self-reported sleep disturbance. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 312 women of Mexican descent of childbearing age (21-40 years) located in an urban California community were collected and previously analysed in relation to depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder. The general sleep disturbance scale (in English and Spanish) was used to assess sleep disturbance. Data was collected in 1998 from September through December.


RESULTS
Early socialization to the United States during childhood was the most useful acculturation parameter for understanding self-reported sleep disturbance in this sample. In a multivariate regression analysis, three factors (higher acculturation, lower income and higher depressive symptoms) were statistically significant in accounting for 40% of the variance in sleep disturbance.


CONCLUSIONS
When low income Latinas of Mexican descent report sleep problems, clinicians should probe for environmental sleep factors associated with low income, such as noise, over-crowding and exposure to trauma and violence, and refer the woman to psychotherapy and counselling rather than merely prescribing a sleep medication.
School of Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA. mheilema@ucla.edu
Marysue V
MV
Heilemann
Shonali M
SM
Choudhury
Felix Salvador
FS
Kury
Kathryn A
KA
Lee
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology