Racial Differences in Sleep Outcomes in the First Two Years of College
New longitudinal research tracking 451 college students across their first four semesters reveals that racial and ethnic sleep disparities are not present at college entry but emerge and widen over the first two years, with White students showing the most favorable sleep trajectories while Black, Latinx, Asian, and Multiracial students experienced declines in sleep efficiency.
Lead
The transition to college is a pivotal developmental window, and sleep is often one of the first casualties. But a new study published July 16 in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities suggests that the toll is not distributed equally. While White college students tend to sleep longer and maintain stable sleep quality over their first two years, students from racial and ethnic minority groups show worsening sleep efficiency and shifting sleep timing patterns that could carry long-term consequences for health and academic performance.
Led by Tiffany Yip at Fordham University, the longitudinal study used wrist actigraphy to track 451 students across four consecutive semesters, capturing objective sleep data rather than relying on self-reports. The findings document a troubling pattern: sleep disparities that were absent at baseline emerged over time, suggesting that the college environment itself may be driving inequities.
What They Found
The researchers recruited 451 first-year college students from a diverse institution. The sample was composed of 19% Asian, 15% Black, 19% Latinx, 23% Multiracial, and 24% White students; 76% were female. Each semester for two years, participants wore wrist actigraphs for two weeks, providing objective data on sleep duration, sleep efficiency (the percentage of time in bed actually spent sleeping), bedtime, and risetime.
The results showed clear racial and ethnic differences in how sleep changed over the college years:
White students demonstrated the most favorable sleep trajectories overall. Their sleep duration increased over time, and their sleep efficiency remained stable. They also shifted to earlier bedtimes, a pattern associated with better sleep hygiene.
Black and Latinx students showed changes in sleep timing but not in the direction typically considered healthy. Both groups woke up later over time, a pattern that can conflict with morning class schedules and academic demands.
White and Multiracial students moved their bedtimes earlier across the four semesters, aligning with more conventional schedules.
Asian students showed no significant change in either bedtime or risetime, maintaining consistent but not necessarily improving sleep timing across the study period.
Most concerning, all racial and ethnic minority groups experienced declines in sleep efficiency over the first two years. This metric is clinically important because lower sleep efficiency means spending more time in bed but getting less restorative sleep, a hallmark of insomnia and a known risk factor for poor mental health, metabolic dysfunction, and impaired cognition.
Crucially, the researchers found no significant group differences in any sleep parameter at baseline. The disparities emerged only after students entered the college environment, pointing to contextual rather than intrinsic causes.
Why It Matters
These findings carry implications for both clinical practice and institutional policy. College is often framed as an equalizer, but this study suggests it may amplify preexisting structural inequities in sleep health. The reasons are likely multifactorial. Students from marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds may face housing insecurity, higher financial stress, discrimination, and social marginalization, all of which are known to disrupt sleep. They may also have less flexibility in their schedules, work more hours, or live in noisier or more crowded dormitory conditions.
Sleep efficiency is a particularly important metric to track. While total sleep duration tends to receive more attention in public health messaging, sleep efficiency captures the quality of that sleep. A student who spends eight hours in bed but only six hours asleep is not getting restorative rest, even if they appear to meet duration guidelines. The universal decline in sleep efficiency among minority students in this study suggests a systematic quality gap that warrants intervention.
For college health services, these results argue for targeted sleep screening and support for students from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. For administrators, the findings raise questions about how campus environments, housing assignments, dining hall hours, and academic scheduling may differentially impact students. Interventions to reduce sleep disparities may need to address structural factors rather than simply offering individual-level sleep hygiene advice.
The study was funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant R01MD015715), reflecting a growing recognition that sleep health is an equity issue.
Limits
The study has important limitations. The sample was drawn from a single institution and was 76% female, which may limit generalizability, particularly to male students and to other types of colleges and universities. Actigraphy, while more objective than self-report, is not as precise as polysomnography. The two-week measurement window each semester captures a snapshot of sleep patterns, not a continuous record. Additionally, the study did not directly measure the mechanisms driving disparities, such as perceived discrimination, stress, neighborhood environment before college, or socioeconomic status. Causal claims cannot be drawn from an observational longitudinal design.
Bottom Line
Racial and ethnic disparities in sleep among college students are not present at the start of freshman year but emerge and widen during the first two years of college. White students show the most favorable sleep trajectories, while Black, Latinx, Asian, and Multiracial students experience declining sleep efficiency. These findings point to systemic, environment-driven causes and suggest that addressing sleep inequity in higher education requires structural, not just individual, solutions.
Source: Yip T, Lorenzo K, Woolverton GA, Wu J, Cham H, Chae D, El-Sheikh M. Racial Differences in Sleep Outcomes in the First Two Years of College. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. Published online July 16, 2026. doi:10.1007/s40615-026-03091-y. PMID: 42461506.