LAUSR

The close relationship between high stress and poor sleep is well known. Less is known whether this relationship is stronger for a certain population group who may experience more stress. Grandparents responsible for raising their grandchildren are such a vulnerable group, as increased caregiving responsibilities are associated with increased stress levels. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether grandparent caregiving status moderated the relationship between subjective stress and sleep. The sample was a subset of individuals recruited in the second wave of the MIDUS biomarkers project completed in 2009 who answered the sleep, caregiving, and stress variables of interest. Participants included grandparents who reported having been responsible for the care of their grandchildren for at least 1 year (N=63, age M=61.80, 64% female) and grandparents who were not responsible for their grandchildren (N=423, age M=62.98, 56.2% female). Multiple regressions (SPSS PROCESS) examined whether caregiving status (1=yes, 0=no) moderated associations between subjective stress (Perceived Stress Scale) and sleep (subjective Sleep Onset Latency-SOL and sleep quality) over the past month. Analyses controlled for age and gender. Caregiving status interacted with stress (t(1, 484)=3.81, p=.04) in its association with SOL (R2=.15, p=.001). Specifically, increased stress was associated with greater SOL in caregiving grandparents and to a lesser (but not significant) extent in non-caregiving grandparents (Z =1.49, p=.13). Caregiving status interacted with stress (t(1, 484)=5.76, p=.02) in its association with sleep quality (R2=.33, p< 001). Specifically, increased stress was associated with worse sleep quality in caregiving grandparents and to a less extent in non-caregiving grandparents (Z =2.67, p=.01). These results suggest that caregiving status may contribute to an increase in the positive relationship between subjective stress and sleep problems. Future research should utilize longitudinal and experimental methodology to determine the causality of these relationships as well as examine physiological measures of stress. In addition, studies should investigate whether addressing stress in behavioral sleep treatments may improve caregiving grandparents’ sleep. National Institute on Aging (P01AG020166, R37AG027343; McCrae, PI: R01AG061976)