Strategies for Controlling Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts and Insomnia Severity in Urban-Residing Young Adult African Americans.

INTRODUCTION: Poor sleep is common in our society, particularly for African Americans, and is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Unwanted, intrusive thoughts contribute to sleep disturbances and can be engendered by living in stressful urban environments, which are disproportionately inhabited by African Americans. Studies of other populations have shown that cognitive coping strategies to manage intrusive thoughts vary in their adaptiveness.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between thought control strategies and insomnia severity in urban residing young-adult African Americans.
METHOD: Sixty-four young adult African Americans completed a demographic questionnaire, the Thought Control Questionnaire for Insomnia-revised, and the Insomnia Severity Index.
RESULTS: There were moderate to strong positive correlations of aggressive suppression, worry, behavioral distraction, and social avoidance with ISI scores. Poor sleepers endorsed greater use of worry and aggressive suppression than good sleepers. Results from a multiple linear regression analysis revealed that aggressive suppression, social avoidance, and behavioral distraction significantly predicted insomnia severity, and aggressive suppression was the strongest predictor in the model.
CONCLUSIONS: These results extend findings of aggressive suppression as a correlate of insomnia severity to an urban-residing young adult African American sample. Future research should identify adaptive approaches and the utility of modifying maladaptive strategies.