{"id":{"repo_id":"houston","oai_identifier":"oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/14519"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/houston/oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/14519","repository":{"repo_id":"houston","name":"University of Houston","base_url":"https://uh-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Sleep Health Among Children Recently Adopted from Foster Care","abstract":"Sleep disruption is prevalent among children placed in foster care, elevating the risk for a range of deleterious outcomes. Theoretically, achieving permanency via adoption may have a positive influence on children’s sleep via the presence of various factors, but little is known about the sleep health of children adopted from foster care, including predictors and moderators of sleep quality. The current study included 226 parents who adopted a child from foster care (aged 4 to 11 years) within the past two years and propensity score matched sample of 379 caregivers of children currently in foster care. Both samples completed online questionnaires about their child’s sleep, physical, and mental health. Comparatively, children in foster care experienced more nightmares, night terrors, moved to someone else’s’ bed during the night more often and worse overall sleep quality, whereas adopted children were reported to experience more nighttime awakenings. In the adopted sample, a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted better sleep quality, but this relationship was moderated by parent-child interactions around sleep. Specifically, child sleep dependence scores (i.e., difficulty going to sleep without parent) falling at both the highest and lowest levels strengthened the relationship between ACEs and sleep quality. Findings suggest that while some sleep problems might remit after children in foster care achieve permanence, nighttime sleep fragmentation may persist. Further, parent-child interactions surrounding sleep may be pivotal in targeting sleep problems in this population.","abstract_html":"Sleep disruption is prevalent among children placed in foster care, elevating the risk for a range of deleterious outcomes. Theoretically, achieving permanency via adoption may have a positive influence on children’s sleep via the presence of various factors, but little is known about the sleep health of children adopted from foster care, including predictors and moderators of sleep quality. The current study included 226 parents who adopted a child from foster care (aged 4 to 11 years) within the past two years and propensity score matched sample of 379 caregivers of children currently in foster care. Both samples completed online questionnaires about their child’s sleep, physical, and mental health. Comparatively, children in foster care experienced more nightmares, night terrors, moved to someone else’s’ bed during the night more often and worse overall sleep quality, whereas adopted children were reported to experience more nighttime awakenings. In the adopted sample, a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted better sleep quality, but this relationship was moderated by parent-child interactions around sleep. Specifically, child sleep dependence scores (i.e., difficulty going to sleep without parent) falling at both the highest and lowest levels strengthened the relationship between ACEs and sleep quality. Findings suggest that while some sleep problems might remit after children in foster care achieve permanence, nighttime sleep fragmentation may persist. Further, parent-child interactions surrounding sleep may be pivotal in targeting sleep problems in this population.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cifre, Anthony Ballachie"],"institution":"University of Houston","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Psychology, Clinical","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Alfano, Candice A."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Bick, Johanna R.","Budnick, Christopher J."],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-05-22","date_published":"2023-05-22","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:47Z","subjects":["Sleep","Foster care","Adoption","Adverse childhood experiences"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10657/14519","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Alfano, Candice A."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Bick, Johanna R.","Budnick, Christopher J."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cifre, Anthony Ballachie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-06-14T16:38:13Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-06-14T16:38:13Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023-05-22"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology, Clinical"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Houston"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Sleep","Foster care","Adoption","Adverse childhood experiences"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10657/14519"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Sleep disruption is prevalent among children placed in foster care, elevating the risk for a range of deleterious outcomes. Theoretically, achieving permanency via adoption may have a positive influence on children’s sleep via the presence of various factors, but little is known about the sleep health of children adopted from foster care, including predictors and moderators of sleep quality. The current study included 226 parents who adopted a child from foster care (aged 4 to 11 years) within the past two years and propensity score matched sample of 379 caregivers of children currently in foster care. Both samples completed online questionnaires about their child’s sleep, physical, and mental health. Comparatively, children in foster care experienced more nightmares, night terrors, moved to someone else’s’ bed during the night more often and worse overall sleep quality, whereas adopted children were reported to experience more nighttime awakenings. In the adopted sample, a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted better sleep quality, but this relationship was moderated by parent-child interactions around sleep. Specifically, child sleep dependence scores (i.e., difficulty going to sleep without parent) falling at both the highest and lowest levels strengthened the relationship between ACEs and sleep quality. Findings suggest that while some sleep problems might remit after children in foster care achieve permanence, nighttime sleep fragmentation may persist. Further, parent-child interactions surrounding sleep may be pivotal in targeting sleep problems in this population."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Sleep Health Among Children Recently Adopted from Foster Care"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Alfano, Candice A."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Bick, Johanna R.","Budnick, Christopher J."],"dc:creator":["Cifre, Anthony Ballachie"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-06-14T16:38:13Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-06-14T16:38:13Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-05-22"],"dc:description.abstract":["Sleep disruption is prevalent among children placed in foster care, elevating the risk for a range of deleterious outcomes. Theoretically, achieving permanency via adoption may have a positive influence on children’s sleep via the presence of various factors, but little is known about the sleep health of children adopted from foster care, including predictors and moderators of sleep quality. The current study included 226 parents who adopted a child from foster care (aged 4 to 11 years) within the past two years and propensity score matched sample of 379 caregivers of children currently in foster care. Both samples completed online questionnaires about their child’s sleep, physical, and mental health. Comparatively, children in foster care experienced more nightmares, night terrors, moved to someone else’s’ bed during the night more often and worse overall sleep quality, whereas adopted children were reported to experience more nighttime awakenings. In the adopted sample, a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted better sleep quality, but this relationship was moderated by parent-child interactions around sleep. Specifically, child sleep dependence scores (i.e., difficulty going to sleep without parent) falling at both the highest and lowest levels strengthened the relationship between ACEs and sleep quality. Findings suggest that while some sleep problems might remit after children in foster care achieve permanence, nighttime sleep fragmentation may persist. Further, parent-child interactions surrounding sleep may be pivotal in targeting sleep problems in this population."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10657/14519"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"dc:subject":["Sleep","Foster care","Adoption","Adverse childhood experiences"],"dc:title":["Sleep Health Among Children Recently Adopted from Foster Care"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology, Clinical"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Houston"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:47Z"}