Sleep disturbance is a core symptom of Pediatric post-traumatic stress disorder (PPTSD). Given the link between sleep and affective processing, disruptions in sleep-dependent processing of emotional material have been suggested to contribute to symptom maintenance. In this study we sought to asses the relationship between sleep and emotion processing in youth with PPTSD relative to healthy control subjects. Seven participants with PTSD (aged 14.5 ± 2.9; CAPS-CA score 64.8 ± 17.8) and three age- and sex- matched controls (aged 12.0 ± 0.8) completed two overnight high-density EEG (256-channel) polysomnography sleep studies. Prior to sleep on night 2, participants rated 70 neutral and 70 negative scenes with respect to level of arousal on a scale of 1–9 using the Self-Assessment Manikin rating system (SAM). The following morning, recall was tested with 100 previously viewed images and 100 new images. Participants again rated images on level of arousal. Sleep: No significant differences were observed between groups for any PSG variable. However, differences in the percent of NREM stage 2 decreased for both groups during sleep on the task night relative to baseline night, with a larger % decrease in the PTSD group (control %2.29 ± 9.04 vs. PTSD %6.34 ± 0.63). Behavior: Recall accuracy (control 78.3 ± 9.8 vs. PTSD 81.6 ± 15.3) did not differ between groups, nor did recall accuracy for emotional images (control 81.3 ± 10.8 vs. PTSD 77.6 ± 14.8). Ratings of arousal did not distinguish groups at encoding. However, ratings of arousal during the recall session for previously viewed negative images was markedly different in each group. As a group, PPTSD children subtly increased arousal ratings of negative remembered-images from evening to morning (mean night, 6.18 ± 2.31, morning 6.34 ± 2.66) while the control group robustly decreased arousal ratings (7.22 ± 2.67, 2.18 ± 1.21). Given our sample size, firm conclusions are impossible. However, our results suggest that sleep quality may adversely impact the process of emotional evaluation in children with PTSD. none