Mona El Sheikh

Mona El Sheikh

  • Leonard Peterson and Co., Inc. Professor in HDFS
334-844-3294
elshemm@auburn.edu
381 Mell Street (M. White Smith Hall, Room 110)
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Child Sleep, Health, and Development Lab
Accepting new graduate students: No
Accepting new undergraduate students: Yes

Mona El-Sheikh, Ph.D. is the Leonard Peterson & Co. Inc. Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Auburn University. Her multidisciplinary research program addresses child and adolescent development in the context of risk and has advanced a biopsychosocial approach for understanding adaptation and maladaptation. More specifically, her research examines multiple domains of development in youth in the context of family and socioecological (e.g., health disparities associated with poverty) risk. Of particular emphasis is the assessment of children's physiological and biological reactivity and regulation examined through sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity and sleep-wake processes, which are considered primary mechanisms of risk and vulnerability/protective factors for trajectories of psychological adjustment, physical health, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement. Studying cohorts of children and their families over long periods, from childhood through adolescence to young adulthood, has revealed how these processes relate to developmental outcomes over time and provide insights into mitigating interventions. This work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NICHD and NHLBI), and the National Science Foundation.

Education

  • Ph.D. (Psychology)West Virginia University1989

  • M. A. (Psychology)West Virginia University1988

  • B. A. (Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology)The American Univeristy, Cairo, Egypt1984

Professional Experience

2010-present: Leonard Peterson & Co., Inc., Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn University

2005-2010: Alumni Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn University

2002-2005: Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn University

2000-2001: Associate Professor (tenured)
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn University

1995- 2000: Associate Professor (tenured)
Department of Psychology, Auburn University

1990-1995: Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology, Auburn University

1990: Visiting Instructor
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University

1985-1989: Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University

1984-1985: Graduate Research Assistant
Department of Anthropology/Psychology/Sociology, The American University in Cairo

Innovation

My work addresses child development in the context of risk and has advanced a biopsychosocial approach for understanding adaptation and maladaptation. More specifically, my research examines child functioning across multiple domains (psychological adjustment, physical health, cognitive functioning, academic achievement) in the context of familial risk (e.g., marital aggression, child abuse, parental alcoholism) and the socioecological milieu (e.g., health disparities associated with poverty and ethnic minority status). Of particular emphasis is the assessment of children's physiological and biological reactivity and regulation examined through sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis activity, and sleep-wake parameters, which are examined as primary mechanisms of risk and vulnerability/protective factors. Incorporating such a wide lens and connecting different levels of influence (physiological to societal) characterize my scholarship, which has led to novel contributions towards a nuanced understanding of development in youth. A recognized feature of my research, facilitated by instrumental collaborations with colleagues from various disciplines, is its multi- and inter-disciplinary nature and its building of bridges across many areas of inquiry concerned with child health and development including psychology, family functioning, pediatric sleep medicine, psychophysiology, public health and health disparities.

Current Funding:

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
R01-HL136752-05
El-Sheikh, M. (PI)
Sleep as a Mechanism and Moderator in the Development of Health Trajectories
02/25/2023-01/31/2027
Total Direct Cost (TDC): $1,999,960

National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
R01-MD 015715
Yip, T. (PI)
Social-Environmental Predictors of Sleep Disparities During the Transition to College
06/01/2022 – 05/31/2027
Subcontract to AU $151,000
Role: PI on Auburn subcontract



Engagement

  • American Academy of Sleep Medicine

  • American Psychological Association

  • Society for Research in Adolescence

  • Society for Research in Child Development

  • Sleep Research Society

  • Editorial and Reviewing Activities

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Family Psychology, 2007-2009

  • Editorial board member, Journal of Family Psychology, 2004 -2006; 2009; 2013-2016

  • Editorial board member, Developmental Psychology; 2012-2016

  • Editorial board member, Health Psychology; 2012-2015

  • Editorial board member, Sleep Health; 2015-present

Selected Manuscripts

Thompson, M. J.,* Ehrhardt, A. D.,* Saini, E. K., Brigham, E. F.,* Altinoz, Z. S.,* Yip, T., Buckhalt, J. A., & El-Sheikh, M. (2026). Unpacking sleep and mental health disparities across childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic and systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 85, 102206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2025.102206

Fuller-Rowell, T. E., Zeringue, M. M., Saini, E. K., Sultana, S.,* & El-Sheikh, M. (2025). Changes in actigraphy-assessed sleep from childhood to adolescence: The role of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage. Sleep Health, 11, 431-438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.04.002

Kelly, R. J., Thompson, M. J., & El-Sheikh, M. (2025). Harsh parenting in adolescence and symptoms of depression in emerging adulthood: The moderating role of sleep. Sleep Health, 11(6), 781-790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.07.010

Thompson, M. J., Gillis, B. T., Hinnant, J. B., Erath, S. A., Buckhalt, J. A., & El-Sheikh, M. (2024). Trajectories of actigraphy-derived sleep duration, quality, and variability from childhood to adolescence: Downstream effects on mental health. Sleep, 47(8), zsae112. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae112

Thompson, M. J., Hinnant, J. B., Erath, S. A., & El-Sheikh, M. (2024). The legacy of harsh parenting: Enduring and sleeper effects on trajectories of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Developmental Psychology, 60(8), 1482–1499. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001754

Kelly, R. J., Thompson, M. J., & El-Sheikh, M. (2024). Exposure to parental interpartner conflict in adolescence predicts sleep problems in emerging adulthood. Sleep Health 10(5), 576-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2024.06.003

Fuller-Rowell, T., Saini, E., K., & El-Sheikh, M. (2023). Social class discrimination during adolescence as a mediator of socioeconomic disparities in actigraphy-assessed and self-reported sleep. Sleep Medicine, 108, 61-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2023.05.021

El-Sheikh, M., Gillis, B. T, Saini, E., Erath, S., A. & Buckhalt, J. A. (2022). Sleep and disparities in child and adolescent development. Child Development Perspectives, 16, 200-207. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12465

El-Sheikh, M., Zeringue, M. M.,* Saini, E. K.,* Fuller-Rowell, T. E., & Yip, T. (2022). Discrimination and adjustment in adolescence: The moderating role of sleep. Sleep, 45, zsab215. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab215

Kelly, R. J., Zeringue, M. M., & El-Sheikh, M. (2022). Adolescents’ sleep and adjustment: Reciprocal effects. Child Development, 93, 540-555. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13703