Social connectedness and sleep in Blackfeet American Indian adults

A growing body of work documents a link between indices of social connectedness and sleep health. Sleep is implicated in the chronic health conditions which disproportionately affect American Indian adults, however the relationship between social connectedness and sleep health is largely understudied in this population. The current project investigates relationships between multiple indices of social connectedness and sleep health in a sample of American Indian adults. In a sample of 275 American Indian adults residing in the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, we investigated links between social networks, loneliness, existential isolation (i.e., feeling alone in one’s experiences) and sleep health. We used one linear regression model controlling for demographics and symptoms of anxiety and depression to investigate the relationship between measures of social connectedness and sleep health. Existential isolation was the only statistically significant predictors of sleep health, with higher existential isolation relating to worse sleep health. Existential isolation may be a particularly important measure of social connectedness in American Indian adults. More research is needed to understand precursors of existential isolation and the mechanisms contributing to the relationship between existential isolation and sleep health in Blackfeet American Indian adults.