Sleepiness as a pathway linking race and socioeconomic status with academic and cognitive outcomes in middle childhood
Section snippets
Current study
The current study examined sleepiness as a potential mechanism (mediator or intervening variable) in the associations among both race (EA and AA children) and SES and children's academic and cognitive outcomes. To our knowledge, no published study has examined sleepiness in this context. We hypothesized that AA and lower-SES children would report greater daytime sleepiness, which in turn would predict lower academic and cognitive performance. We assessed these associations longitudinally
Participants
Children were part of a longitudinal study of sleep, health, and adjustment across middle to late childhood (Auburn University Sleep Study). Data for the present investigation were drawn from 2 study waves 2 years apart. At the first wave, 282 children (52% boys) and their families were recruited from local elementary schools. Based on mothers' report, children did not have a diagnosis of a clinical sleep disorder. Children's mean age was 9.44 years (SD = .71) at the first assessment and
Preliminary analyses
Bivariate correlations, means, and standard deviations for main study variables and covariates are provided in Table 1. Values for all variables were within 4 SDs of the mean, and skewness statistics were all <±1.0. t tests revealed that, compared to EA children, AA children reported greater sleepiness and received lower academic functioning, BIA, and ARMT scores at age 9, in addition to lower BIA and ARMT scores at age 11. AA children were more likely than EA children to live at or below the
Discussion
The present study examined child sleepiness as a pathway of effects contributing to racial and socioeconomic disparities in academic and cognitive performance. AA and lower-SES children reported greater sleepiness at age 9, which predicted decreases in teacher-reported academic functioning, cognitive performance, and state standardized test scores from ages 9 to 11. Sleepiness functioned as a significant intervening variable but not a mediator in these pathways. When both race and SES were
Disclosures
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank our research laboratory staff, particularly Bridget Wingo, for data collection and preparation, as well as the children and parents who participated.
This study was supported by grant R01HL093246 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded to Mona El-Sheikh. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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