Relation of Family Economic Pressure and Racial Stress with Sleep Disturbance among African American College Students: Moderating Effects of Kin Social Support

The investigation examined whether kin social support moderated the association of family economic pressure and race-related stress with sleep disturbance among African American college students. The study is grounded in two theoretical models including the Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competence in Minority Children (IM) and the Family Stress Model (FSM), which predict that economic and race-related stress are linked to well-being in families and that the effects of stressful experiences may be moderated by kin social support. Hypotheses were assessed with online questionnaires administered to 152 African American college students (83% female, M_age = 21.7, SD_age = 4.6). Economic pressure and race-related stress were significantly associated with sleep disturbance. Interference effects of kin support were evident and revealed that the positive relations of family economic pressure and race-related stress with sleep disturbance were less apparent with increases in kin support. Findings suggest that kinship ties are complex relations with costs and benefits that African American students must manage as they cope with stressful experiences in college.