Mona El-Sheikh

Adolescents are vulnerable to poor sleep, and both individual and environmental factors predict youth sleep problems. The present study examined the independent and interactive associations of adolescent sympathetic nervous system reactivity and experiences of parenting with multiple aspects of their sleep. Participants were 579 late adolescents ( M _age = 17.14 years, 47.3% males, 52.7% females; 62.7% White, 37.3% Black). Sympathetic reactivity was measured via skin conductance level reactivity in response to a lab‐based stressor, and participants reported on experiences of parental psychological control. Adolescent sleep was assessed both objectively through actigraphy and subjectively from self‐report. Structural equation models demonstrated a consistent pattern of interaction effects, such that higher adolescent skin conductance level reactivity predicted better actigraphy‐derived sleep 1 year later at low levels of paternal psychological control, but worse actigraphy‐derived sleep at high levels of paternal psychological control. There were no independent or interactive effects for mothers’ parenting. Findings are consistent with biological sensitivity to context theory and indicate that high skin conductance level reactivity may reflect appropriate engagement with the environment in low‐stress contexts but lead to wear and tear of bioregulatory systems in contexts of high stress, eroding sleep.

This study investigated trajectories of ethnic and racial sleep disparities during the first two years of college, focusing on several dimensions of sleep. Ethnically and racially diverse first-year college students ( n = 451; Asian = 19%, Black = 15%, Latinx = 19%, multiracial = 23%, White = 24%; female = 76%, male = 22%, non-binary = 2%) wore wrist actigraphs for two weeks every semester for four semesters. Findings suggest that across different sleep dimensions (duration, bedtime, risetime, and efficiency), ethnic and racial disparities emerge over time. White students had the most improvements in sleep over time, with increases in sleep duration and no change to their sleep efficiency. During this period, Black and Latinx students woke up later, white and multiracial students went to bed earlier, and Asian students had no change in bedtime or risetime. All racial and ethnic minority students declined in sleep efficiency. These findings document persisting ethnic and racial sleep disparities among diverse college students across a range of sleep dimensions and have implications for targeted interventions to improve sleep outcomes for diverse youth.

The study examined whether change in childhood interparental conflict (IPC) moderated links between change in adolescent IPC and sleep from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants (N = 351, 52% female, 67% European American, 32% African American, 1% biracial) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in the Southeastern United States completed five waves of data collection (Mages = 8, 10, 15, 17, 22) between 2005 and 2022. Actigraphs measured sleep duration and quality. Participants reported on parents’ IPC. Latent change score models examined change-on-change in IPC and sleep. Among those with histories of increasing childhood IPC, increases in adolescent IPC predicted increases in sleep activity (β = .24) and long-wake episodes (β = .22) and decreases in sleep efficiency (β = −.20) from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Findings are consistent with stress sensitization.

Sleep is a fundamental domain of development and has important implications for other key aspects of adaptation. Little is known about normative changes in sleep across adolescence and emerging adulthood and whether the change is linear or nonlinear. We examined growth trajectories of sleep across 9 years of development and individual differences in trajectories according to participants' race/ethnicity and sex assigned at birth. During each wave, we measured four key actigraphy-derived sleep parameters over 1 week, including duration (number of minutes spent asleep), efficiency (percentage of time scored as sleep), midpoint (preferences for morningness-eveningness), and consistency/variability in duration (night-to-night fluctuations in duration over 1 week). Participants (N = 295, 53% female, 69% European American/White, 30% African American/Black, and 1% biracial) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds completed five waves of data (M_ages at each wave: 15, 16, 17, 22, and 24). We observed a cubic trajectory for sleep duration whereby sleep duration declined across adolescence, increased into emerging adulthood, and declined again from 22 to 24. Consistency/variability in sleep duration also exhibited a cubic trajectory. Nightly fluctuations in sleep duration decreased from 15 to 16, increased from 16 to 22, and decreased again from 22 to 24. We found a quadratic trajectory for sleep midpoint, indicating a progressively greater preference for eveningness. Sleep efficiency exhibited linear growth and improved over time. Differences in trajectories for sleep duration and sleep efficiency emerged based on participants' race and sex. Findings indicated significant changes in the developmental trajectories of four sleep parameters across adolescence and emerging adulthood and underscore the importance of nonlinear assessments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examined whether a mediational cascade involving children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity to a series of cognitive and socio-evaluative stressors, their callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and psychological adjustment was moderated by their cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity. Using a multi-method, multi-informant design, 238 mothers and their preschool children (Mage = 4.38, 52% female; 68% White; 18% Black; 14% Multiracial or another race; and 16% Latinx) participated in three annual timepoints from 2018 to 2022. Findings indicated that children's CU traits at Wave 2 mediated the association between dampened RSA reactivity at Wave 1 and their Wave 3 externalizing and social difficulties. Consistent with hypoarousal models of CU traits, these pathways were stronger for children with dampened PEP reactivity to the stressors.