Association of Social Desirability with Sleep Disturbance(s) among the Black Population

Introduction : Despite a higher prevalence of sleep disturbance among blacks, they are least likely to report sleep complaints. In this study, we examined whether the reporting sleep-related problems is associated with degree of social desirability.

Methods : Data was obtained from a larger study (MetSO) investigating OSA treatment among metabolic syndrome patients in the primary-care setting. A total of 60 patients were interviewed, providing data on insomnia complaints, namely difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, and daytime napping. Social Desirability was assessed with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Analyses were performed using SPSS 19.0

Results : The mean age was 60.9 ± 13.8 years; 75% were female. Of the sample, 92.3% were diagnosed with hypertension, 58.9% with diabetes, 77.8% with dyslipidemia, and 88.2% were overweight/obese. The mean Social Desirability Score was 20.45 ± 4.45. The mean total sleep time was 5.65 ± 1.6 hours; 48.3% reported daytime sleepiness, 40.0% had difficulty falling asleep, 45% had difficulty staying asleep, and 40.0% took naps during the day. Univariate analysis showed that individuals reporting daytime napping had low social desirability scores (21.83 ± 4.93 vs. 19.00 ± 4.08; t(48) = -2.220, p=0.031).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that blacks reporting daytime napping are characterized by lower levels of social desirability. Inadequate statistical power might explain why other sleep measures did not show significant differences. A sample size of 200 individuals would be required to detect true differences in the population. Future studies should examine other sleep factors affected by social desirability.