Sleep Health
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2019, Pages 135-140

Immigration as a social determinant of troubled sleep in Canada: some evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey–Mental Health (Article)

Sano Y.* , Antabe R. , Kyeremeh E. , Kwon E. , Amoyaw J.
  • a Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  • b Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  • c Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  • d Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
  • e Department of Sociology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Background: The literature pays very little attention to immigrants' sleep in Canada, although sleep is essential to individual health and well-being. Analysis: Drawing data from the Canadian Community Health Survey–Mental Health, we aim to address this void by comparing troubled sleep among recent immigrants, established immigrants, and the native-born Canadians. Results: Despite immigrants' declining health over time in Canada, our findings reveal that both recent and established immigrants report fewer cases of troubled sleep than their native-born counterparts. Recent (odds ratio [OR] = 0.70, 95% confidence intervals [CIs] = 0.62-0.79) and established immigrants (OR = 0.86, 95% CIs = 0.79-0.92) were less likely to report troubled sleep than the native-born at the bivariate level, although its significant impact for recent immigrants was completely attenuated when health status was controlled for (OR = 0.88, 95% CIs = 0.76-1.02). Established immigrants were still less likely to report fewer cases of troubled sleep than the native-born even after controlling for all control variables (OR = 0.88, 95% CIs = 0.81-0.96). Conclusion: Based on these findings, we discuss that fewer troubled sleep cases reported by immigrants may be explained by their initial health advantage, resilience trajectory, and cultural interpretation of sleep. We also provide several suggestions for future research. © 2018 National Sleep Foundation.

Author Keywords

Troubled sleep Canadian Community Health Survey–Mental Health Social determinants of sleep Healthy immigrant effect

Index Keywords

immigrant sleep indigenous people mental health human immigration middle aged statistics and numerical data controlled study social determinants of health Health Surveys Cross-Sectional Studies Young Adult Sleep Wake Disorders cross-sectional study migrant psychology Humans sleep disorder male Canada Emigrants and Immigrants female drawing Canadian Article adult human experiment migration Emigration and Immigration public health health survey

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85059755156&doi=10.1016%2fj.sleh.2018.11.008&partnerID=40&md5=95e786e652d45f3b24b245515a4b1065

DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2018.11.008
ISSN: 23527218
Original Language: English