0133 Subjective Social Class and Sleep-Related Impairment in Young Adults

Abstract Introduction Lower objective social class (i.e., socioeconomic position) is associated with poorer sleep health. Emerging evidence suggests that objective measures of social class may not fully capture how college students perceive their social standing and identity, dimensions shaped by social and cultural influences beyond traditional socioeconomic indicators. Subjective social class (SSC), or one’s perceived sociocultural standing, may offer additional insight into processes such as sleep-related impairment (SRI), an important marker of sleep-related daytime functioning. We hypothesized that college students of lower social class would report greater SRI compared to those from middle and upper classes. Methods College students from two universities (N=1,001; Mage=19.87[2.34], 70% women, 53% white) completed a survey between April 2021 and September 2022. We used a linear regression with SSC (i.e., lower, middle, upper class) as the independent variable, PROMIS SRI as a dependent variable, and race/ethnicity, gender, and university as covariates. Results The regression model was statistically significant and accounted for 5% of the variance in SRI (R²adj=.0.05 F(12, 978)=5.53, p<.001). College students who self-reported as belonging to the lower social class reported greater SRI compared to both middle-class (B=-1.78, SE=0.64, 95% CI[-3.04, -0.52]) and upper-class participants (B=-1.90, SE=0.74, 95% CI[-3.35, -0.44]). Conclusion College students who self-identified as belonging to the lower social class demonstrated greater SRI. Prior work suggests that SSC may be more strongly tied to health outcomes than objective measures. For example, in a sample of 177 healthy adults, SSC was more strongly associated with sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and weekend oversleeping compared to objective measures of social class. Mechanisms like emotional regulation and negative affect may regulate how individuals with lower SSC experience SRI. Further examination of these psychological mechanisms is warranted to identify protective factors that mitigate impacts of SRI among individuals with low SSC. Support (if any)