Online and offline gendered racial microaggressions and sleep quality for Black women.

Objective: Poor sleep quality affects Black women in the United States. Black young adult women experience stress from gendered racial microaggressions (i.e., subtle unfair treatment from being a Black woman). Studies of exposure to this stressor have focused on in-person contexts (i.e., offline). Yet Black young adults are nearly constantly online. The current study examines the associations between online and offline gendered racial microaggressions and sleep quality.

Method: Data came from a convenience sample of Black young adult women (N = 478; ages 18-35) and were collected online in the fall of 2021. Participants completed an online survey in which they self-reported demographics and COVID-19 stress covariates, online and offline exposure to gendered racial microaggressions, and sleep quality. Utilizing linear (outcome: continuous sleep quality score) and logistic (outcome: dichotomized clinically significant poor sleep quality) regression models, we examined direct and vicarious online gendered racial microaggressions.

Results: Most participants (67.2%) reported poor sleep quality. More offline gendered racism (β = .14) and vicarious online gendered racism (β = .14) were each uniquely associated with poorer sleep quality. However, only exposure to vicarious online gendered racism was uniquely associated with a 33% increased odds of clinically relevant poor sleep quality (95% confidence interval [1.09, 1.63]).

Conclusions: Offline and online gendered racial microaggressions are stressors with sleep quality implications. Vicarious online gendered racial microaggressions are uniquely associated with lower sleep quality and therefore may be a new avenue for future research and intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).