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Sleep quality moderates the association between family bereavement and heart rate variability

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Hye Won Chai
Hye Won Chai
Hye Won Chai
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Dylan J. Jester at VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Dylan J. Jester
Soomi Lee at Pennsylvania State University
Soomi Lee
Susanna Joo at Yonsei University
Susanna Joo
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Two separate bodies of literature point to the link between family bereavement and cardiovascular health and between sleep quality and cardiovascular outcomes. However, less is known about the joint influence of family bereavement and sleep quality on cardiovascular functioning. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between experiencing the death of a family member and heart rate variability (HRV) and to further explore whether these associations differ by sleep quality. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Biomarker Project, the sample for this study included respondents who experienced the death of an immediate family member – father, mother, spouse, sibling, or child – within a year before the Biomarker project and those who did not experience any deaths (N = 962). We used two measures of HRV and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results showed that experiencing the death of a family member was associated with worse HRV only among those with poor sleep quality and not for those with good sleep quality. These results suggest that poor sleep quality may indicate psychophysiological vulnerability for those who experienced the death of a family member. Interventions to improve sleep quality could be effective in enhancing cardiovascular health of bereaved individuals.
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Journal of Behavioral Medicine (2023) 46:622–631
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-022-00388-1
2006) and that 12% of older men and 34% of women aged
65 and older are widowed (Roberts et al., 2018). Given the
increased importance of family relationships in adulthood
(Carstensen, 1992), experiencing the death of a close fam-
ily member has signicant health implications for adults.
In particular, many studies conrm the health-damaging
eects of family bereavement on cardiovascular outcomes
Introduction
The death of a family member is one of the major life events
that individuals typically experience during adulthood. For
example, studies on the prevalence of family bereavement
nd that 75% of adults are likely to experience the deaths
of both parents by the age of 62 (Hooyman & Kramer,
Hye Won Chai
hye.chai@austin.utexas.edu
Dylan J. Jester
djester@health.ucsd.edu
Soomi Lee
soomilee@usf.edu
Susanna Joo
jssn@yonsei.ac.kr
Debra J. Umberson
umberson@austin.utexas.edu
David M. Almeida
dma18@psu.edu
1 Population Research Center, The University of Texas at
Austin, Austin, TX, USA
2 Department of Psychiatry, University of California San
Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
3 Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging,
University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
4 School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida,
Tampa, FL, USA
5 BK21 Symbiotic Society and Design, Yonsei University,
Seoul, South Korea
6 Department of Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, TX, USA
7 Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Abstract
Two separate bodies of literature point to the link between family bereavement and cardiovascular health and between
sleep quality and cardiovascular outcomes. However, less is known about the joint inuence of family bereavement and
sleep quality on cardiovascular functioning. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between experi-
encing the death of a family member and heart rate variability (HRV) and to further explore whether these associations
dier by sleep quality. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Biomarker Project, the sample for this
study included respondents who experienced the death of an immediate family member – father, mother, spouse, sibling,
or child – within a year before the Biomarker project and those who did not experience any deaths (N = 962). We used
two measures of HRV and sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results showed that
experiencing the death of a family member was associated with worse HRV only among those with poor sleep quality
and not for those with good sleep quality. These results suggest that poor sleep quality may indicate psychophysiological
vulnerability for those who experienced the death of a family member. Interventions to improve sleep quality could be
eective in enhancing cardiovascular health of bereaved individuals.
Keywords Family death · Cardiovascular health · Sleep · Psychosocial · Physiological
Received: 29 September 2022 / Accepted: 13 December 2022 / Published online: 29 December 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022
Sleep quality moderates the association between family bereavement
and heart rate variability
Hye WonChai1· Dylan J.Jester2,3· SoomiLee4· SusannaJoo5· Debra J.Umberson1,6· David M.Almeida7
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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