Poor Quality of Sleep in Foster Children Relates to Maltreatment and Placement Conditions

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated child sleep in a sample of maltreated children living in foster care and examined its associations with placement conditions and history of maltreatment. Participants included 25 foster children and their foster caregiver. Children were on average 60.24 months of age ( SD = 18.70). Foster mothers completed questionnaires assessing parenting stress and quality of child sleep while maltreatment/placement history was retrieved from children Child Protection Services (CPS) records. Shorter nocturnal sleep duration and parasomnias were related to placement at a younger age. The non-restorative sleep index was significantly related to time spent in the foster home and parenting stress and marginally related to number of placements and sexual abuse and neglect. Poor sleep was associated with past experience of sexual abuse and neglect and parenting stress. No relationships were found between sleep characteristics and past experiences of physical abuse or type of foster family. These findings provide an opportunity to uncover how foster children experiences are related to sleep disturbances.