Do weighted blankets improve sleep among children with a history of maltreatment? A randomized controlled crossover trial.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep disruption is prevalent and persistent among children who experience maltreatment/interpersonal trauma. Weighted blankets have gained popularity in recent years as a potential non-pharmacological intervention for improving sleep in various populations, but their efficacy has not been examined among maltreated children. The current study used a randomized, within-subjects, crossover design to examine whether the use of a weighted blanket improves objective and/or subjective indices of sleep among 30 children, ages 6 to 15 years (M = 9.7, SD = 2.9) adopted from foster care. METHODS: Participants used a weighted blanket for two weeks and their usual blanket for two weeks in a counterbalanced order. Sleep outcomes were measured using actigraphy and subjective sleep diaries. RESULTS: No differences in actigraphy-based or subjective estimates of total sleep time, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, or sleep quality ratings were found based on blanket type. Child age, biological sex, timing of participation (school year versus summer months), and maltreatment/trauma history did not impact outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Although we did not find evidence that weighted blankets improve sleep among children with a history of maltreatment/interpersonal trauma, additional well-controlled studies using larger samples of children are needed.

Sleep Health among Children Adopted from Foster Care: The Moderating Effect of Parent-Child Sleep Interactions.

OBJECTIVES: Sleep disruption is prevalent among children placed in foster care, elevating 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 health. METHOD: The current study included 226 parents who adopted a child from foster care in the U.S. (aged 4-11 years) within the past two years and a 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. RESULTS: Comparatively, children in foster care experienced more nightmares, night terrors, moving to someone else's' bed during the night, and worse overall sleep quality, whereas adopted children were reported to experience significantly more nighttime awakenings. In the adopted sample, a greater number of prior foster placements unexpectedly predicted lower total sleep disturbance scores, but this relationship was moderated by parent-child interactions around sleep. In general, greater parental involvement in children's sleep was associated with lower levels of child sleep disturbance. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that while specific sleep problems might remit after children in foster care achieve permanence, nighttime sleep fragmentation often persists. Parent-child interactions surrounding sleep may be pivotal in improving sleep health in this population.

Correction to: Children's Emotional Expressivity After Sleep Restriction Forecasts Social Problems Years Later.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s42761-021-00078-2.].

Children's Emotional Expressivity After Sleep Restriction Forecasts Social Problems Years Later.

Sleep patterns affect children's socioemotional functioning in ways that may predict long-term social problems. However, precise mechanisms through which these effects occur remain unexplored and thus unknown. Building on findings in adults, the current study examined whether changes in children's facial expressions of emotion after sleep restriction predict social problems concurrently and/or longitudinally. At time 1, 37 children (mean = 9.08 years, SD = 1.3) completed in-lab emotional assessments both when rested and after two nights of sleep restriction. Participants' parents provided reports of their child's social problems at time 1 and approximately 2 years later (time 2; mean = 11.26 years, SD = 1.6). Children who exhibited less positive facial expressions in response to positive images after sleep restriction evidenced greater social problems longitudinally, even when controlling for earlier social problems. Results suggest that inadequate sleep may undermine children's social functioning via alterations in emotional expression which may become more salient with age.

Validation of the Mental Health Checklist (MHCL) during COVID-19 lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented disruption to everyday life, including widespread social distancing and self-quarantining aimed at reducing the virus spread. The Mental Health Checklist (MHCL) is a measure developed to assess psychological health during extended periods of isolation and confinement, and has shown strong psychometric properties in community samples and during Antarctic missions. This study validated the MHCL in a sample of 359 U.S. and U.K adults during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested model fit, and convergent validity analyses were conducted to compare the MHCL with validated measures of depression, anxiety and stress, as well as insomnia. The MHCL exhibited good model fit for most CFA indices, and showed strong convergent validity with other measures of psychological well-being. Findings suggest that the MHCL is useful for assessing mental health in a variety of environments and conditions.