Sleep disruption in young foster children.

In the current study, sleep actigraphy and parent-report measures were used to investigate differences in sleeping behavior among four groups of 3- to 7-year-olds (N = 79): children in regular foster care (n = 15); children receiving a therapeutic intervention in foster care (n = 17); low income community children (n = 18); and upper middle income community children (n = 29). The children in therapeutic foster care exhibited longer sleep latency and increased variability of sleep duration than the upper middle income community children. In addition, there was an indication of a treatment effect: the therapeutic foster care children slept longer than the regular foster care and low income community children and had earlier bedtimes, fell asleep earlier, and spent more time in bed than the regular foster care children. The results are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of early intervention for enhancing sleep in foster children.