NCHS Data Brief ■ No. 230 ■ January 2016

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

Sleep Duration, Quality of Sleep, and Use of Sleep 

Medication, by Sex and Family Type, 2013–2014

Colleen N. Nugent, Ph.D.; and Lindsey I. Black, M.P.H.

Key findings

Data from the National 

Health Interview Survey, 

2013–2014

● Single parents, especially 

women, were more likely than 

adults in other types of families 

to have short sleep duration, 

frequently have trouble falling 

asleep and staying asleep, and 

frequently wake up feeling not 

well-rested.

● Within family types, women 

were more likely than men to 

frequently have trouble falling 

asleep and staying asleep, and 

to frequently wake up feeling 

not well-rested.

● Overall, adults in two-parent 

families were less likely than 

adults in other types of families 

to have taken sleep medication 

four times or more in the past 

week.

Sleep affects many aspects of well-being and quality of life for people of all 

ages. Risks associated with deficient or poor-quality sleep include physical 

health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease (1,2), mental health issues 

such as depression (3), and driving and workplace accidents (4,5). Nearly 

one-third of U.S. adults do not meet the recommendation of getting at least 

7 hours of sleep daily (6,7). Prior research has found that marital status (8–11)

and whether young children live in the household (10–12) are associated with 

sleep duration and quality. This report describes sleep duration, sleep quality, 

insomnia symptoms, and the use of sleep medication among U.S. adults, by 

sex and family type.

Keywords: sleep time • insomnia • family structure • National Health Interview 

Survey

Overall, single parents with children under age 18 years 

were more likely to have shorter sleep duration than adults 

in two-parent families with children under age 18 and adults 

living without children under age 18.
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● Among men, single parents with children under age 18 (37.5%) were more likely to get less 

than 7 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period than adults living without children under age 18 

(32.3%) (Figure 1). 

● Among women, 43.5% of single parents got less than 7 hours of sleep, which was higher 

than for adults in two-parent families (31.2%) and adults living without children (29.7%).

● Among single parents, more women (43.5%) than men (37.5%) got less than 7 hours of 

sleep in a 24-hour period.

● Among adults in two-parent families and adults living without children, men were more 

likely than women to get less than 7 hours of sleep.

Single parents were more likely than adults in two-parent families and 

adults living without children to have had trouble falling asleep four or 

more times in the past week.

● The percentage of male single parents who frequently had trouble falling asleep (17.3%) 

was higher than for men in two-parent families (9.5%) and men living without children 

(13.1%) (Figure 2).
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● Among women, roughly one-quarter of single parents frequently had trouble falling asleep, 

which was greater than the 14.3% of women in two-parent families and 18.5% of women 

living without children who frequently had trouble falling asleep. 

● Within every family type, women were more likely than men to frequently have trouble 

falling asleep.

Overall, single parents were more likely than adults in other types of 

families to have had trouble staying asleep four or more times in the past 

week.

● For men, a similar percentage of adults living without children (17.8%) and single parents 

(19.4%) frequently had trouble staying asleep. Both were more likely to frequently have 

trouble staying asleep than men in two-parent families (13.2%) (Figure 3).

● For women, the percentage of single parents who frequently had trouble staying asleep 

(28.2%) was higher than for adults living without children (24.4%) and adults in two-parent 

families (20.8%).

● Women of each family type were more likely than men of the same family type to frequently 

have trouble staying asleep. For example, nearly 3 in 10 female single parents frequently 

had trouble staying asleep, compared with 2 in 10 male single parents.
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Roughly one-half of single parents had frequently woken up feeling not 

well-rested in the past week, compared with only 4 in 10 adults in twoparent families and one-third of adults living without children.

● In families with children, male single parents (39.7%) were similar to men in two-parent 

families (37.9%) in the percentage feeling not well-rested four or more days in the past 

week. Both were more likely than men living without children (32.5%) to frequently wake 

feeling not well-rested (Figure 4).

● Among women, the percentage who frequently woke feeling not well-rested was highest for 

single parents (52.0%) and lowest for those living without children (39.1%).

● Within every family type, women were more likely than men to frequently wake feeling not 

well-rested.

Adults in two-parent families were less likely than adults in other types of 

families to have taken medication to help fall or stay asleep four times or 

more in the past week.

● Among men, both adults living in families without children and single parents were twice 

as likely as men in two-parent families to have frequently taken sleep medication in the past 

week (Figure 5).
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● Among women, the percentage living without children who frequently took sleep 

medication in the past week (9.7%) was greater than for both female single parents (7.5%) 

and women in two-parent families (4.8%). 

● Among adults living without children and adults in two-parent families, women were more 

likely than men to have frequently taken sleep medication in the past week.

Summary

Getting sufficient sleep is a national health objective and a public health priority (13). This report 

describes sleep duration, sleep quality, and use of sleep medication among U.S. men and women, 

by family type. Overall, results reveal that single parents get less sleep and experience more 

sleep-related problems than adults in other types of families. Single parents were the most likely 

to have short sleep duration, more trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep, and to frequently 

wake feeling not well-rested. Adults in two-parent families were less likely than adults in other 

types of families to have taken sleep medication frequently in the past week. Women of all family 

types were more likely than men in the same family type to have more trouble falling asleep and 

staying asleep, and to frequently wake feeling not well-rested.

Among families with children under age 18, the percentage that are single-parent families has 

risen to 32% over the past several decades (14). Research has shown that single parents have 

fewer financial resources (14), and this report finds that sleep is another domain in which singleparent families are disadvantaged. 
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Definitions

Adult in two-parent family: An adult aged 18–64 living in a family with children under age 18 in 

which there are two parents in the household but no other adults. Such families include married 

or cohabiting adults who are both parents of biological or adoptive children under age 18 in the 

household, or one biological or adoptive parent along with a stepparent. 

Adult living without children: An adult aged 18–64 who does not have children under age 18 

living at home. The adult may be living alone or with other related adults, such as a spouse or 

partner or other relative. 

Not feeling well-rested: Respondents who answered “3 days or fewer” on the questionnaire item 

asking, “In the past week, on how many days did you wake up feeling well-rested?”

Short sleep duration: Respondents who answered “6 hours of sleep or less” on the questionnaire 

item asking, “On average, how many hours of sleep do you get in a 24-hour period?”

Single parent: A biological or adoptive parent or legal guardian aged 18–64 living in a family 

with children under age 18 in which there are no other adults in the household. 

Taking sleep medication: Respondents who answered “four times or more” on the questionnaire 

item asking, “In the past week, how many times did you take medication to help you fall asleep or 

stay asleep?”

Trouble falling asleep: Respondents who answered “four times or more” on the questionnaire 

item asking, “In the past week, how many times did you have trouble falling asleep?”

Trouble staying asleep: Respondents who answered “four times or more” on the questionnaire 

item asking, “In the past week, how many times did you have trouble staying asleep?”

Data source and methods

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a nationally representative survey of the civilian 

noninstitutionalized population of the United States. It is conducted continuously throughout 

the year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health 

Statistics (NCHS). NHIS is an in-person interview conducted in the respondent’s home. In some 

instances, follow-up to complete the interview is by telephone. The survey consists of 

(a) a Family Core component, with questions asked about all members of the family; (b) a 

Sample Adult component, which collects additional information from one randomly selected 

adult per family; and (c) a Sample Child component, which collects additional information about 

one randomly selected child per family. Data for this analysis come from the Sample Adult and 

Family Core components of the 2013–2014 NHIS. For more information about NHIS, visit the 

NHIS website at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm. 

For survey items related to sleep, it is unknown whether respondents include naps in their 

conceptual interpretation of sleep. It is also unknown whether sleep medication is over-thecounter or prescribed by a doctor. The study population includes only adults living in households 

that contain a single family. Adults living with roommates, nannies, au pairs, or other unrelated 

persons are not included. In addition, only adults aged 18–64 are included due to differences in 

the age distribution of adults without children under age 18 compared with parents with children 
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under age 18. In families with children under 18, the sample is further restricted to sample adults 

who are parents or legal guardians of children in the family, and to only single-parent or twoparent families without other adults. 

NHIS is designed to yield a nationally representative sample, and these analyses used weights to 

produce national estimates. The sample design is described in more detail elsewhere (15). Point 

estimates and the corresponding variances for this analysis were calculated using SUDAAN 

software (16) to account for the complex sample design of NHIS. The Taylor series linearization 

method was used for variance estimation. All estimates shown meet the NCHS standard for 

reliability (having a relative standard error less than or equal to 30%). Differences between 

percentages were evaluated using two-sided significance tests at the 0.05 level. All differences 

reported are significant unless stated otherwise.

About the authors

Colleen N. Nugent and Lindsey I. Black are with CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, 

Division of Health Interview Statistics.

References

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NCHS Data Brief ■ No. 230 ■ January 2016

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Household demographics and perceived insufficient sleep among US adults. 

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Suggested citation

Nugent CN, Black LI. Sleep duration, 

quality of sleep, and use of sleep medication, 

by sex and family type, 2013–2014. NCHS 

data brief, no 230. Hyattsville, MD: National 

Center for Health Statistics. 2016.

Copyright information

All material appearing in this report is in 

the public domain and may be reproduced 

or copied without permission; citation as to 

source, however, is appreciated.

National Center for Health 

Statistics

Charles J. Rothwell, M.S., M.B.A., Director 

Nathaniel Schenker, Ph.D., Deputy Director 

Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D., Associate 

Director for Science

Division of Health Interview Statistics

Marcie L. Cynamon, Director

Stephen J. Blumberg, Ph.D., Associate 

Director for Science

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