Ph.D. West Virginia University, Psychology, 1989
M.A. West Virginia University, Psychology, 1988
B.A. The American University, Cairo, Egypt, Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, 1984

• Sleep and Development
• Developmental Psychobiology
• Developmental Psychopathology
• Family Conflict
• Marital and Parent-Child Relationships
• Health Disparities

Sleep and Development
Families from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
Marital Conflict and Child Adjustment

2018   Nominated by Auburn University for the Southeastern Universities Research Association
      Distinguished Scientist Award

2017   Research Advisory Board Advancement of Research and Scholarship Award, Auburn University

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH)
Child Sleep as a Mechanism and Moderator in the Development of Health Disparities

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH)
Family aggression and trajectories of adolescent adaptation: Bioregulatory effects

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

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

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

Feng, Y, Lorenzo, K., & El-Sheikh, M. (2023). Ethnic/racial discrimination and academic grades among adolescents: Moderation by sleep regularity. Journal of Sleep Research, 32, e13798. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13798

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

McWood, L. M., Zeringue, M. M., Martín-Piñón, O., Buckhalt, J. A., & El-Sheikh, M. (2022). Linear and nonlinear associations between the sleep environment, presleep conditions, and sleep in adolescence: Moderation by race and socioeconomic status. Sleep Medicine, 93, 90-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2021.11.004