Racial/Ethnic Differences in Device-measured Sleep among College Students in the United States

Objective: We examined racial/ethnic differences in device-measured sleep among students at three universities in California, Texas, and Maryland in the United States.

Methods: Participants (N = 88) completed a paper questionnaire and wore a Fitbit Charge 5 wearable tracker for an average of 82 days of sleep over the 2023 fall semester. Participants’ sleep data were transferred to a cloud-based data aggregation platform. Based on race/ethnicity, participants were classified into four groups: non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs), non-Hispanic Asians, and Hispanics.

Results: All racial/ethnic minority students had lower odds of ≥ 7-hour of sleep per night than NHW students (adjusted odds ratios: 0.07-0.14, p < .05 for all), adjusting for sex, age, weight status, variability in bedtime, and variability in wake time. NHB students had 71.1 minutes less average sleep time than NHW students, adjusting for all the covariates. NHWs reported better sleep efficiency in comparison with racial/ethnic minority groups (94.1% vs. 90.1 – 91.4%, eta-squared = 0.026). Conclusions: Sleep duration was markedly lower in racial/ethnic minority students compared to NHW students, particularly in NHB students. Sleep management programs should be considered to address racial/ethnic sleep disparities among college students.