The Association of Sleep Disturbance,Depression,and Kin Social Support With the College Adjustment of African American Students: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

This investigation examined whether the indirect association of sleep disturbance with college adjustment through depression was moderated by kin social support among African American college students. The study was grounded in the Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competencies in Minority Children (IM), which maintains that kin support promotes adaptive functioning of ethnic minority children and adults and moderates the effects of stressful experiences on adjustment. The hypotheses were assessed with online questionnaires administered to 152 African American college students (83% female, M_age = 21.7, SD_age = 4.6). The findings revealed a significant indirect effect of sleep disturbance on college adjustment through depressive symptoms. Kin support moderated indirect effect, such that sleep disturbance was significantly associated with college adjustment through depressive symptoms, at low and moderate, but not high levels of kin support. The results suggest that it may be beneficial to incorporate sleep education among the student services administered on campuses. Developing mechanisms to link family and other sources of support with students’ campus life may be important for African American college students’ adjustment.