The Effects of Exposure to Domestic Violence on Sleep Among Urban Adults

Purpose: Domestic violence contributes to poor health including sleep disruptions, which has been associated with risk for chronic conditions and ultimately, premature mortality. The present study examined the effects of ever witnessing domestic violence on sleep among urban neighborhoods of color. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Ten of Chicago's 77 community areas. Participants: Adults, aged 18 years and older (N = 1,543, Response Rate = 28.4%). Over 49% of participants reported a Hispanic ethnicity, 34.8 percent reported being non-Hispanic Black and 14.2 percent reported being White. Measures: We used the Sinai Community Health Survey, 2.0, to examine: average hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, ever witnessing domestic violence, ever being emotionally or physically abused, frequent stress in the past 12 months, and other key covariates (race and ethnicity, annual household income, sex, and health status). Analysis: Multivariate logistic regression. Results: In the full model, participants who reported witnessing domestic violence were significantly less likely to report meeting sleep recommendations even after controlling for ever being emotionally or physically abused, frequently feeling stress, demographic factors, and health status. Non-Hispanic Blacks were most likely to report not meeting sleep recommendations (OR = .54, 95% CI = .30-.96, P = .036). Conclusion: Witnessing domestic violence contributes to not meeting sleep recommendations and this appears to be most salient for Non-Hispanic Blacks. These point-in-time findings document an important potential contributor to racial health disparities.