title: Single-parent family structure and sleep problems in black and white adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sleep is critical for adolescent health and is influenced by the family environment. In our study, we examined if family structure defined as single- vs. two-parent households affected adolescent sleep.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 242 (57% black; 47% boys) healthy adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years). Sleep was measured using self-report and wrist actigraphy over seven consecutive nights. Outcomes were actigraphy-assessed sleep duration and sleep efficiency (SE) for the full week and weekends and weekdays separately, as well as self-reported sleep-wake problems and variability in bedtimes. Linear regression examined the relationship between family structure and sleep, after adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index, and depressive symptoms, parental education, family conflict, and financial strain. Race and sex were examined as potential moderators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjusting for covariates, adolescents from single-parent households had poorer SE across the week and shorter sleep duration on weekends. White adolescents from two-parent households had fewer sleep-wake problems and lower bedtime variability, whereas black adolescents from single-parent households had the lowest weekend SE. There were no significant differences in family structure-sex interactions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings are the first to demonstrate that single-parent family structure is an independent correlate of sleep problems in adolescents and they highlight the moderating role of race.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Health Division, Pittsburgh, PA, United States. Electronic address: wtroxel@rand.org.
authors.forename: Wendy M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Troxel
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Laisze
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Martica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Epidemiology, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Matthews
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D000293:Adolescent; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054541:Family Conflict; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: Actigraph; Adolescence; Children; Family structure; Marital status; Single parent; Sleep