Impact of daily neighborhood crime on nightly sleep among adolescents

Abstract

Crime impacts both the immediate victims and has indirect effects on the community. This study examined associations between daily neighborhood crime and actigraphy-assessed sleep outcomes using multilevel modeling. Data were from a longitudinal (14-day) study of 288 adolescents (Mage = 15.27; 70.8% girls, 29.2% boys; 38.9% Asian, 36.8% Hispanic or Latinx, 20.5% Black or African American) in the New York City area in 2014. Residential addresses were geocoded to examine police-recorded crime. Daily neighborhood violent crime was associated with nightly sleep efficiency, but not duration, bedtime, or wake time. Non-violent crime was not associated with any sleep outcomes. This suggests that neighborhood violent crimes are detrimental to the quality, but not quantity or timing, of sleep that adolescents receive that evening.