This analysis examined the relationship between ethnicity, sex, age, socioeconomic position, experience of racial discrimination and self-reported sleep disturbances in a cohort of 4108 Māori and 6261 Europeans aged ≥15 years who participated in the 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey. Experiences of racial discrimination across 5 domains were used to assess overall racial discrimination ‘ever’ and the level of exposure to racial discrimination. Socioeconomic position was measured using neighbourhood deprivation, education, and equivalised household income. For each sleep disturbance item (difficulty falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, early morning awakenings), prevalence rates were higher among Māori than among Europeans. In analyses adjusted for ethnicity, sex, age group, and socioeconomic position, reported experiences of racial discrimination were independently associated with each sleep disturbance item. In logistic regression analyses, racial discrimination and socioeconomic position explained most of the disparity in difficulty falling asleep and frequent nocturnal awakening between Māori and Europeans; ethnic differences remained in early morning awakenings.
