R01MD015715

Social-Environmental Predictors of Sleep Disparities During the Transition to College - Project Summary

Ethnic/racial minorities (ERMs) are more likely to suffer from short sleep duration and poor sleep quality relative to Whites. Sociodemographic and environmental stressors disproportionately impact ERMs and have been implicated in the development and maintenance of race-related sleep disparities.

The transition to college is an especially important time to investigate sleep since young adults encounter a unique configuration of sociodemographic and environmental stressors linked to sleep. No longer tethered to early high school start times, college students report later and more irregular bedtimes. College students also sleep less and more poorly than adults, suggesting a developmental peak in sleep disturbances among young adults.

Focusing on two sleep-vulnerable groups – ERMs and college students - this 5-year longitudinal study investigates race-related sleep disparities in a diverse sample of college students during and after the transition to college; and how race-related sleep disparities forecast downstream health and academic outcomes through students’ senior year. The study also investigates the risk and protective effects of ethnic/racial identity as a dynamic and changing moderator during this period.

The innovative and novel combination of daily diaries and sleep actigraphy, biannual surveys, and annual assessments of inflammatory biomarkers, telomere length, and anthropometric measures offers an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the daily and longer-term mechanisms, pathways, and consequences of race-related sleep disparities in a large sample of ERM and White college students.

A key innovation of the study is the intersectional inclusion of ERM, socioeconomic, 1st-generation college, resident, and commuter diversity. The three specific aims of the study are informed by strong preliminary data (R21MD011388), scientific premise, and the race-based disparities in stress and sleep in context model.

The proposed study aims to:
1. Determine the daily and longer-term impact of sociodemographic and environmental stress on race-related sleep disparities (duration, quality, regularity) during the college transition and the next four years.
2. Identify race-related sleep disparities as an explanatory pathway for sociodemographic and environmental stress to impact health, academic, and physiologic biomarker (inflammation and telomere length) outcomes.
3. Investigate ethnic/racial identity as a dynamic moderator of the daily and longer-term effects of stress on sleep, and of sleep on outcomes.

Together, these aims advance developmental and health equity science, investigating how sociodemographic and environmental stress contribute to race-related sleep disparities among diverse college students to forecast daily and longer-term health and academics over time.

Fordham University

TO SUPPORT BASIC, CLINICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH, PROMOTE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRAINING, FOSTER EMERGING PROGRAMS, DISSEMINATE INFORMATION, AND REACH OUT TO MINORITY AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY COMMUNITIES. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES (NIMHD) HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS: (1) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM PROMOTES RESEARCH TO IMPROVE MINORITY HEALTH AND/OR REDUCE AND ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES, BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY FOR MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF HEALTH DISPARITY GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES IN BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES, AND BRINGS TOGETHER INVESTIGATORS FROM RELEVANT DISCIPLINES IN A MANNER THAT WILL ENHANCE AND EXTEND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR RESEARCH, (2) NIMHD RESEARCH ENDOWMENT PROGRAM BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE AT ELIGIBLE NIMHD CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE OR ELIGIBLE SECTION 736 HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOLS (42 U.S.C. 293) TO FACILITATE MINORITY HEALTH AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO CLOSE THE DISPARITY GAP IN THE BURDEN OF ILLNESS AND DEATH EXPERIENCED BY RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY AMERICANS AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY POPULATIONS, PROMOTES A DIVERSE AND STRONG SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE, AND EMPHASIZES THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND OTHER SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND OTHER AREAS OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, (3) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO STIMULATE BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES, (4) MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM (MHIRT) AWARDS ENABLE U.S. INSTITUTIONS TO TAILOR SHORT-TERM BASIC SCIENCE, BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL MENTORED STUDENT INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO ADDRESS GLOBAL ISSUES RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING, REDUCING, AND ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES, (5) SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, ENCOURAGES SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (6) SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, FOSTERS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (7) HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH PROJECT GRANTS (RPG) SUPPORT INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS, SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND HEALTH SERVICES THAT CAN DIRECTLY AND DEMONSTRABLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE IMPROVEMENT IN MINORITY HEALTH AND THE ELIMINATION OF HEALTH DISPARITIES WHICH INCLUDES THE (8) RESEARCH CENTERS IN MINORITY INSTITUTIONS (RCMI) BUILD CAPACITY FOR BASIC BIOMEDICAL AND/OR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH, CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (RCTR) AND A NETWORK (RCTN) BY FOCUSING ON INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, SUCH AS SUPPORTING CORE RESEARCH FACILITIES AND STAFF, PURCHASING ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION, AND LABORATORY RENOVATIONS/ALTERATIONS (9) CLINICAL RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT (CRECD) AWARDS PROVIDE DIDACTIC TRAINING AND MENTORED CLINICAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCES TO DEVELOP INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS WHO CAN LEAD CLINICAL RESEARCH STUDIES, ESPECIALLY THOSE ADDRESSING HEALTH DISPARITIES, (10) PATHWAY TO INDEPENDENCE AWARDS (K99/R00) TO INCREASE AND MAINTAIN A STRONG COHORT OF NEW AND TALENTED, NIH-SUPPORTED, INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATORS. (11) NIH RESEARCH CONFERENCE GRANT AND NIH RESEARCH CONFERENCE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAMS SUPPORT HIGH-QUALITY CONFERENCES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, (12) TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIVE CENTERS FOR HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH COMPRISE REGIONAL COALITIONS OF ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, SERVICE PROVIDERS AND SYSTEMS, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS CONDUCTING COORDINATED RESEARCH, IMPLEMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES THAT TRANSCEND CUSTOMARY APPROACHES AND SILO ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES TO ADDRESS CRITICAL QUESTIONS AT MULTIPLE LEVELS IN INNOVATIVE WAYS FOCUSED ON PRIORITY RESEARCH AREAS IN MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, (13) RUTH L. KIRSCHSTEIN NRSA INDIVIDUAL PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

93.307 - Minority Health and Health Disparities Research

National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) [HHS - NIH]

Bronx, New York 10458 United States

Single Zip Code

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 624% from $441,241 to $3,195,570.