article review

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GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SLEEP DISRUPTION

Article Review: Gender Differences in Sleep Disruption

Erica K. Fernandez

Louisiana State University at Alexandria

PSYC 3017

Dr. Richard Elder

Maume, D., Sebastian, R., & Bardo, A. (2009). Gender Differences in Sleep Disruption among

Retail Food Workers. American Sociological Review, 74(6), 989-1007. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2.lsua.edu/stable/27801504

The study performed by D. Maume, R. Sebastian, & A. Bardo (2009) was to determine sleep disruption among retail food employees as it “examines gender inequality in working role obligations and the implications for differences in sleep disruption” (p. 989). They focused primarily on the case of retail food employees “with the aim of broadcasting scholarship on the work-family nexus” (p. 995, 2009). The study included three variables that were used, gender, time use, and sleep disturbance. Based on the information researchers concluded from previously completed sleep disruption studies, they formed the hypothesis “ women suffer significantly more sleep disruption than men” (p. 1509, 2009). The goal of this research was to determine what variables are the cause for the supposed gender gap as it pertains receiving a night of disruption free sleep.

There have been a lot of studies concerning sleep “because sleep is a natural biological activity” (p. 990, 2009). Many factors affect whether or not someone will have a good night’s sleep including age, work, and declining systems in the body, such as how the “circulatory system declines with age and poor health” (p. 990, 2009). Other factors like stress play a significant role in sleep disturbances as well. There have also been several studies married couples and sleep disruption, and one in particular confirmed that at times, men sleep better than their significant other because “their husband’s weight problems and illnesses affect the men’s snoring and sleep” (p. 991, 2009), and as a result in sleeplessness. Overall, it has been concluded that there are many varying variables that contribute to a restless night.

The first step to finding participants for this study was to outreach the union officials of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) who “provided the names and addresses of approximately 10,000 current members with at least a year of seniority” (p. 996, 2009). The conditions played a significant role as seasonal employees may perhaps cause an error within the results. Out of 10,000 employees who received a letter requesting participation, approximately 7.79% of them volunteered to complete the survey. The researchers were able use 583 individuals for the final sample size, 362 of them female and the remaining were male participants.

All the of participants were interrogated using a scale where all items asked were graded where 1=never and 4=often, which “ask about symptoms associated with sleeplessness (items 1 and 2), inability to reach a deep and recuperative sleep (items 3, 4, and 8), and other symptoms of sleep problems, including fatigue and oversleeping on nonwork days (items 6, 7) and wake-time dysfunction (items 9 and 10)” (p. 996, 2009). Women’s sleep is shown to be more disrupted than men’s which led to the creation of the “sleep disruption index” (2009). There was only one question, item 5, which was geared toward women. This is in contrast to a study conducted by T. Åkerstedt, L. Torsvall, & M. Gillberg (1982) where there were observations of sleep in workers after a long day of work (p. S96). The second method of collecting data consisted of “asking respondents to recall all sleep spells” within the 24 hours before the survey was conducted (p. 997, 2009).

To examine the data in this study, D. Maume, R. Sebastian, & A. Bardo (2009) used a decomposition analysis which can be seen in Table 3 (p.1001). The two queries the analysis questioned were “How much of the gender difference in sleep disruption is attributable to gender differences in occupying distressing life situations” and “How much is attributable to gender differences in reacting to similar life situations?” (p.1001, 2009). Table 3 contained alternative variables in the study such as mean differences, female slopes, and percentages. Computer programs were not utilized to analyze data.

A correlation between sleep and gender gaps were discovered; however, correlation does not essentially signify causation. Researchers stated, “these results are consistent with the general argument that women experience life differently than do men” (p. 1003, 2009). Previously researched assumed work had an effect on sleep, accounting only “5 percent of the gender gap in sleep disruption” (p. 1003, 2009). There were constrictions to confirming if results were accurate; therefore, researchers believed experimenting with a higher number of people would be required to proving this to be true. The second restriction is “that although we measured sleep disruption consistent with clinical research approaches” (p. 1004, 2009), meaning there could have been alternative variable resulting in sleep disturbances other than the ones they chose to test.

I never thought of how many things could affect your sleep habits until I was presented with this assignment. Upon research, I also think, women may have more issues with lack of sleep as a result of the many constraints on one’s psychological responsibilities which in return coincide with ongoing work stress. The researchers also appeared to lean more to women not getting a good night’s rest due to other variables, such as age, and/or a significant other’s health issues, instead of how one’s work affects their sleep; hence, I was disappointed in how insignificantly this study referred to retail employees and the number of sleep disturbances they experience at night. A correlational experiment may have been more suitable for this particular study but due to the lack of personal assistants, I can use the correlational correlation analysis to determine a differentiation in the results.

References

Åkerstedt, T., Torscall, L., & Gillberg, M. (1982). Sleepiness and Shift Work: Field Studies.

Raven Press, 5(2), S95-S106.

Maume, D., Sebastian, R., & Bardo, A. (2009). Gender Differences in Sleep Disruption among

Retail Food Workers. American Sociological Review, 74(6), 989-1007. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2.lsua.edu/stable/27801504