Changes in actigraphy-assessed sleep from childhood to adolescence: The role of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage.

Objectives: Few studies have examined longitudinal effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on objectively assessed sleep outcomes among youth. This study examined neighborhood disadvantage as a predictor of changes in actigraphy-assessed sleep over a 6-8-year period from childhood to adolescence. Racial/ethnic differences in effects were also considered.

Methods: Participants were 339 children residing in small towns and semirural contexts within the Southeastern region of the United States (M_{age T1} = 10.3years, SD = 0.8; 46% female; 36% Black, 64% White; M_{age T2} = 17.6years, SD = 0.8). Sleep duration (from onset to wake time) and quality/continuity (efficiency and long wake episodes) were assessed using wrist actigraphy. Neighborhood disadvantage was assessed from established census tract measures geocoded to childhood residential addresses.

Results: Sleep duration decreased between childhood and adolescence and sleep quality/continuity increased. Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with decreases in sleep quality/continuity from childhood to adolescence, but was not associated with sleep duration. Neighborhood effects remained significant after adjusting for family socioeconomic status. Interaction effects between neighborhood disadvantage and race indicated that the magnitude of neighborhood effects on changes in sleep quality/continuity were larger for Black youth than for White youth.

Conclusions: This study is the first to show that objectively assessed neighborhood disadvantage is associated with longitudinal changes in actigraphy-assessed sleep quality from childhood to adolescence, and that this association was larger for Black youth than for White youth. The results suggest that neighborhood factors may be key to addressing widening racial disparities in sleep across this developmental period.