Psychology Doctoral Dissertation Defense: Juliana Acosta
This is a past event.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 1:00pm to 3:00pm
AHC1 - Academic Health Center 1, 117
11200 SW 8th ST, Academic Health Center 1, Miami, Florida 33199
Examining the Influence of Parenting Practices on Youth’s Sleep Health During a Sensitive Developmental Period
Sleep problems among youth are highly prevalent and associated with mental and physical health concerns. During early adolescence, youth’s sleep health is at risk for disturbance, and problems with sleep around this developmental period have been shown to longitudinally predict escalating rates of anxiety and depression later in adolescence. Sleep- related behaviors are embedded within the family system and as such they are influenced by familial processes including parenting practices. However, the influence of parenting practice on young adolescents’ sleep health has been understudied. Moreover, there is limited evidence on the concept of nighttime parenting as it relates to youth’s sleep health. Lastly, although parenting practices have been identified as contributors to youth’s sleep health, parents’ active involvement within sleep interventions has been limited.
In a series of three studies, I examined the association between nighttime and general/daytime parenting practices and youth’s sleep health. First, I provide evidence on positive parenting practices longitudinally predicting better sleep health indices and negative parenting practices longitudinally predicting poorer sleep health indices. Then, I expand on this research by developing a measure that assesses nighttime parenting practices, and thereby, provide a new framework for conceptualizing youth’s sleep health within the family system. Findings from the second study corroborate those from the first study as positive and negative nighttime parenting practices differentially related to youth’s sleep health above and beyond the impact of general/daytime parenting practices. Lastly, informed by the aforementioned studies, I conducted a clinical open trial of a family-based intervention for early adolescents with sleep problems, which intentionally targeted nighttime parenting practices. Findings revealed pre- to post-treatment improvements in youth sleep and mental health as well as favorable trends in parenting practices. This collection of work contributes to the conceptualization of the socioecological model of youth’s sleep health and highlights parenting practices as potential treatment targets that may be promising in addressing the pervasiveness and gravity of poor sleep health during the sensitive developmental stage of early adolescence.
Major Professors: Dr. Dana McMakin and Dr. Justin Parent
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Zoom Link: go.fiu.edu/acosta
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