Examining the associations of gender minority stressors with sleep health in gender minority individuals

Sexual minorities and sleep health: How does discrimination and stigma influence a sleep disorder diagnosis?

OBJECTIVES

Sleep difficulties are associated with many physical and mental health problems, such as diabetes, hypertension, and depressive symptoms. Sleep can be affected by stressors such as discrimination and stigma, which are disproportionately experienced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals. This research assesses how different characteristics, including discrimination and stigma, sociodemographic characteristics, community connectedness, self-rated good health, and outness levels, influence a sleep disorder diagnosis among SGMs.

METHODS

We analyzed data from wave 3 of Generations: A Study of the Life and Health of LGB People in a Changing Society. We used bivariate analysis to document the distribution of key variables across SGM status. Next, we conducted logistic regression analyses to measure how each variable influences the likelihood of an SGM individual being diagnosed with a sleep disorder considering experiences of discrimination and stigma.

RESULTS

We found that feeling stigma was statistically significant in predicting a sleep disorder diagnosis among SGM individuals. However, after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, community connectedness, self-rated good health, and outness levels, SGM individuals only had increased odds of a sleep disorder diagnosis if they reported higher scores on the Internalized Homophobia Scale.

CONCLUSIONS

Variation in having a sleep disorder diagnosis differs based on SGM status and could not be explained away with the inclusion of all covariates. Our findings support the need for more research to compare health outcomes between different sexual and gender identities, rather than comparing them with their nonminority counterparts.

Caring for Sexual and Gender Minority Adults with Cardiovascular Disease

This article summarizes existing evidence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and CVD diagnoses among sexual and gender minority adults and provides recommendations for providing nursing care to sexual and gender minority adults with CVD. More research is needed to develop evidence-based strategies to care for sexual and gender minority adults with CVD.

Association between discrimination in the workplace and insomnia symptoms

Background

In Korea, little research has focused on the relationship between discrimination in the workplace and sleep health. Thus, this study aims to investigate the association between such discriminatory experiences and insomnia, a common sleep disorder, using Korean employees' data.

Methods

This study used data from the 6th Korea Working Conditions Survey. Discrimination experiences due to age, ethnic background, nationality, race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, educational level, hometown, and employment status were investigated. The Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale estimated insomnia symptoms. The association between discrimination experience and insomnia symptoms were analyzed using survey-weighted logistic regression analysis.

Results

Based on experiences of discrimination over the past 12 months, insomnia symptoms were associated with discrimination experience due to religion (odds ratio [OR]: 3.70; 95% confidential interval [CI]: 1.58-8.69), sex (OR: 2.51; 95% CI: 1.87-3.37), age (OR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.88-2.81), hometown (OR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.44-2.97), employment status (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.37-2.10), and educational level (OR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.31-2.14). Furthermore, the prevalence of insomnia symptoms increased with the number of discrimination experiences.

Conclusions

In this study, discrimination experiences due to religion, sex, age, hometown, employment status, and educational level were significantly associated with insomnia symptoms. Furthermore, as the number of discrimination experiences increased, so did the prevalence of insomnia. Preventing workplace discrimination may improve workers' sleep health.

Examining the role of problematic drug use in the relationship between discrimination and sleep disturbance in transgender and nonbinary individuals

OBJECTIVE

Transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) individuals are a health disparity population at high risk for sleep disturbance (e.g., insomnia). Recent evidence suggests minority stress (e.g., discrimination) is associated with sleep disturbance in TGNB adults. However, investigators have yet to identify factors that might explain this relationship. In this study, we investigated the role of problematic drug use (PDU) in the relationship between discrimination and sleep disturbance in TGNB individuals.

METHODS

The study sample included 194 TGNB participants from Wave 5 (2021) of Project AFFIRM, a multi-site longitudinal study of transgender health. Discrimination, PDU, and sleep disturbance were measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale, Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), and PROMIS Sleep Disturbance measures, respectively. Individuals were classified as having PDU using established DUDIT criteria that were applied based on sex assigned at birth. Regression analyses were used to estimate the associations of study variables, and subsequently, mediation analysis was used to determine whether PDU partially mediated the association between discrimination and sleep disturbance.

RESULTS

Nearly half of participants reported PDU, of which 83.2% reported cannabis use. Higher levels of discrimination were associated with worse self-reported sleep disturbance scores. Additionally, participants with greater discrimination were more likely to have PDU. Surprisingly, participants with PDU had lower sleep disturbance scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Our cross-sectional findings suggest that PDU partially suppressed the association between discrimination and sleep disturbance in TGNB people. Efforts to address PDU in TGNB adults may consider assessing sleep disturbance as a motivating factor for drug use and the potential role of discrimination in perpetuating PDU.

Discrimination keeps transgender people awake at night: A nationwide cross-sectional survey of 583 transgender adults in South Korea

OBJECTIVES

We sought to investigate the association between transgender identity discrimination and sleep problems among transgender people in South Korea (hereafter, Korea), and whether family support for transgender identity plays a protective role in the association.

DESIGN & SETTING

We analyzed a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 583 Korean transgender adults which was anonymously conducted through an online platform.

MEASUREMENTS

Transgender identity discrimination was assessed using a single-item question. Sleep problems were defined as having any of the following problems: poor sleep quality, short sleep duration, and use of alcohol or sleep medications to fall asleep. Family support for transgender identity was classified into 3 groups as follows: not supportive, supportive, and unaware of participants' transgender identity.

RESULTS

Of 583 participants, 383 (65.7%) experienced transgender identity discrimination over the past 12 months. Participants who experienced transgender identity discrimination were 1.48 times (95% confidence intervals [95% CI] = 1.19-1.83) more likely to have any sleep problems, compared to those who never experienced transgender identity discrimination. When stratified by family support level, the associations between transgender identity discrimination and sleep problems remained statistically significant only among those with a family unsupportive (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.16-2.31) or unaware (aPR = 1.60; 95% CI = 1.01-2.52) of participants' transgender identity. However, the association was not statistically significant among those with a supportive family (aPR = 1.41; 95% CI = 0.96-2.07).

CONCLUSION

Given transphobic environments in Korea, legal and institutional efforts are required to reduce transgender identity discrimination (eg, anti-discrimination laws) as well as to build trans-specific family resources.

Sleep disturbance and suicide risk among sexual and gender minority people

Sleep disturbance has emerged as an independent, mechanistic, and modifiable risk factor for suicide. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people disproportionately experience sleep disturbance and are at higher risk of death by suicide relative to cisgender and/or heterosexual individuals. The present narrative review evaluates nascent research related to sleep disturbance and suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (STBs) among SGM populations, and discusses how experiences of minority stress may explain heightened risk among SGM people. Although there is a growing understanding of the link between sleep disturbance and STBs, most research has not been conducted in SGM populations or has not examined suicide as an outcome. Research is needed to examine whether and how aspects of sleep disturbances relate to STBs among SGM people in order to better tailor sleep treatments for SGM populations.