Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Household Demographics and Perceived Insufficient Sleep Among US Adults

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It has become increasingly recognized that insufficient sleep is associated with adverse health outcomes. Studies have observed that sleep duration and daytime sleepiness varies by sex and marital status. Few studies have examined the impact of the number of children on sleep. To evaluate the association of marital status and number of children with insufficient sleep and in a large national sample. We analyzed data from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, a population-based telephone survey of non-institutionalized US adults (N = 395,407), in which respondents were asked, “During the past 30 days, for about how many days have you felt you did not get enough rest or sleep?” We used sex-specific, multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the associations of marital status (married, previously married, never married) and the number of children in the household with frequent insufficient sleep (≥14 days in past 30 days) after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and education. In this study population, 23% were never married, 60% were married, and 17% were previously married. Forty-three percent reported having children aged <18 years in the household. Married men (24.3%) were less likely to report frequent insufficient sleep than never married men (28.0%) or previously married men (28.8%). Never married women (33.4%) were more likely to report frequent insufficient sleep than currently married (29.0%) or previously married women (29.0%). The likelihood of frequent insufficient sleep increased in a linear fashion with the number of children in the household for all subgroups (P < 0.05) except among never married men. These findings suggest that the presence of children in the household often increases the frequency of insufficient rest or sleep among the adults with whom they reside. Thus, health care providers may wish to consider the presence of children under 18 years of age a potential “risk factor” for insufficient sleep when counseling adults in the household about the importance of sleep to overall health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. National Sleep Foundation. Summary of Findings. (2005). Sleep in America poll, methodology. Available at: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/2005_summary_of_findings.pdf. Accessed 25 July 2011.

  2. Manocchia, M., Keller, S., & Ware, J. E. (2001). Sleep problems, health-related quality of life, work functioning and health care utilization among the chronically ill. Quality of Life Research, 10(4), 331–345.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Katz, D. A., & McHorney, C. A. (2002). The relationship between insomnia and health-related quality of life in patients with chronic illness. The Journal of Family Practice, 51(3), 229–235.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Leger, D., Scheuermaier, K., Philip, P., Paillard, M., & Guilleminault, C. (2001). SF-36: Evaluation of quality of life in severe and mild insomniacs compared with good sleepers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63(1), 49–55.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Strine, T. W., & Chapman, D. P. (2005). Associations of frequent sleep insufficiency with health-related quality of life and health behaviors. Sleep Medicine, 6(1), 23–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Vandeputte, M., & de Weerd, A. (2003). Sleep disorders and depressive feelings: A global survey with the Beck depression scale. Sleep Medicine, 4(4), 343–345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ford, D. E., & Kamerow, D. B. (1989). Epidemiologic study of sleep disturbances and psychiatric disorders. An opportunity for prevention? JAMA, 262(11), 1479–1484.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Baker, F. C., Wolfson, A. R., & Lee, K. A. (2009). Association of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health factors with sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in women: Findings from the 2007 National Sleep Foundation “Sleep in America Poll”. Journal of Womens Health (Larchmt), 18(6), 841–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hale, L. (2005). Who has time to sleep? Journal of Public Health (Oxf), 27(2), 205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Theorell-Haglow, J., Lindberg, E., & Janson, C. (2006). What are the important risk factors for daytime sleepiness and fatigue in women? Sleep, 29(6), 751–757.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Arber, S., Bote, M., & Meadows, R. (2009). Gender and socio-economic patterning of self-reported sleep problems in Britain. Social Science Medicine, 68(2), 281–289.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Chen, Y. Y., Kawachi, I., Subramanian, S. V., Acevedo-Garcia, D., & Lee, Y. J. (2005). Can social factors explain sex differences in insomnia? Findings from a national survey in Taiwan. Journal of Epidemiol Community Health, 59(6), 488–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kronholm, E., Harma, M., Hublin, C., Aro, A. R., & Partonen, T. (2006). Self-reported sleep duration in Finnish general population. Journal of Sleep Research, 15(3), 276–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Schoenborn, C. A., & Adams, P. E. (2010). Health behaviors of adults: United States, 2005–2007. Vital Health Stat, 10(245), 1–132.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Medina, A. M., Lederhos, C. L., & Lillis, T. A. (2009). Sleep disruption and decline in marital satisfaction across the transition to parenthood. Families, Systems, and Health, 27(2), 153–160.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Matthey, S., & Speyer, J. (2008). Changes in unsettled infant sleep and maternal mood following admission to a parentcraft residential unit. Early Human Development, 84(9), 623–629.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Ohayon, M. M. (2002). Epidemiology of insomnia: what we know and what we still need to learn. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 6(2), 97–111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ohayon, M. M., Caulet, M., & Guilleminault, C. (1997). How a general population perceives its sleep and how this relates to the complaint of insomnia. Sleep, 20(9), 715–723.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Grandner, M. A., Patel, N. P., Gehrman, P. R., et al. (2010). Who gets the best sleep? Ethnic and socioeconomic factors related to sleep complaints. Sleep Medicine, 11(5), 470–478.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Leger, D., Guilleminault, C., Dreyfus, J. P., Delahaye, C., & Paillard, M. (2000). Prevalence of insomnia in a survey of 12, 778 adults in France. Journal of Sleep Research, 9(1), 35–42.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Ursin, R., Bjorvatn, B., & Holsten, F. (2005). Sleep duration, subjective sleep need, and sleep habits of 40- to 45-year-olds in the Hordaland Health Study. Sleep, 28(10), 1260–1269.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Venn, S., Arber, S., Meadows, R., & Hislop, J. (2008). The fourth shift: Exploring the gendered nature of sleep disruption among couples with children. The British Journal of Sociology, 59(1), 79–97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. McKnight-Eily, L. R., Liu, Y., Perry, G. S., et al. (2009). Perceived insufficient rest or sleep among adults: United States, 2008. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 58(42), 1175–1179.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

AGW received support from a fellowship through a cooperative agreement (award number 3U50CD300860) between the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE Mailstop K-67, Atlanta, GA, 30041, USA

    Daniel P. Chapman, Anne G. Wheaton, Geraldine S. Perry, Stephanie L. Sturgis & Janet B. Croft

  2. Division of Behavioral Surveillance, Public Health Surveillance Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30041, USA

    Tara W. Strine

Authors
  1. Daniel P. Chapman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne G. Wheaton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Geraldine S. Perry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stephanie L. Sturgis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tara W. Strine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Janet B. Croft
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel P. Chapman.

Additional information

Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chapman, D.P., Wheaton, A.G., Perry, G.S. et al. Household Demographics and Perceived Insufficient Sleep Among US Adults. J Community Health 37, 344–349 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-011-9451-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-011-9451-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation