Chronotype,class times,and academic achievement of university students

Numerous studies over the years have documented an effect of human chronotypes on physiological and psychological processes. Studies evaluating the impact of an individual’s chronotype on his/her academic achievement have indicated that morning chronotypes have an academic advantage over evening chronotypes. However, these studies did not account for the time of day in which the participants were being evaluated. The goal of the present study was to examine whether morning chronotypes do have an academic advantage over evening chronotypes when the time of day of classes and exams is taken into consideration. We obtained morningness–eveningness scores and course grades from 207 university students who took classes (and exams) at different times of the day. We confirmed that morning chronotypes attain better grades than evening chronotypes, although the association is weak (r² = 0.02). The difference persisted even after the time of day of classes and exams was taken into consideration. This is probably due to the fact that evening chronotypes are generally more sleep deprived than morning chronotypes as a result of the early schedule of most schools, which can impair their performance both early and late in the day.     

Paradoxical association between chronotype and academic achievement: eveningness reduces academic achievement through sleep disturbance and daytime sleepiness

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - There are conflicting reports about the association between chronotype and academic achievement. Eveningness persons tend to have lower academic achievement, but have...     

Morningness-eveningness and lifestyle regularity

The relation between morningness (M) - eveningness (E) and lifestyle regularity was studied in a convenience sample of 100 healthy subjects aged between 20 and 59 yrs (47 males and 53 females; mean age 33.6 yrs). Morningness-eveningness was measured by a single administration of the 13-item Composite Scale for Morningness (CSM). Lifestyle regularity was measured by requiring subjects to complete a five-item Social Rhythm Metric diary (SRM-5) each evening for two weeks. Each week of SRM-5 was analyzed separately and the two SRM scores averaged to yield the lifestyle regularity measure for the subject. Subjects were categorized by morningness into top and bottom quartiles of CSM score (denoted M-types and E-types, respectively), with the remaining 50% of subjects denoted as intermediate (I-types). Mean SRM scores significantly differed between the three morningness groups (p <0.001) in the order E-types (SRM = 3.6), then I-types (SRM=4.0), then M-types (SRM=4.9), with higher scores indicating greater daily lifestyle regularity. The effect size of the E-type versus M-type difference was approximately 1.3. The relationship between the CSM and SRM scores was also confirmed using a correlational analysis (rho = 0.428; p < 0.001). This correlational finding was substantially weaker when age was partialed out (r=0.186; p=0.065), although there was still a trend toward a significan relationship. Thus it appears that morning types appear to be more regular in their daily lifestyle than are evening types, suggesting a relationship between these two aspects of human circadian behavior.     

Perceived stress and bruxism in university students

Background

Many studies have shown the correlation between bruxism and stress that affects the quality of life of university students. The present study highlights this correlation—for the first time—in a group of university students in Italy.

Methods

We have investigated the prevalence of awake and asleep bruxism and its correlation with perceived stress in a group of 278 Italian undergraduate students (117 M). A self report questionnaire was constructed using a socio-demographic test, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the item n. 8 of the Fonseca Questionnaire for presence of bruxism.

Results

The perceived stress score using PSS-10 scale was 32.2 (SD 4.6, 95% CL 31.6–32.7) for all the subjects, with significant gender difference: M = 31.2 and F = 32.9 (P = 0.0019). The prevalence for awake bruxism was 37.9% (F = 40.8%; M = 34.2%,), while for sleep bruxism was 31.8% (F = 33.3%; M = 29.1%), both without significant gender difference. A positive correlation, with significant concordance and dependence, between stress score and awake bruxism was present for male students only.

Conclusions

University students showed higher bruxism and stress levels compared to the general population, with higher stress for females, but, even if female students show higher stress, a correlation between stress and bruxism exists only for male gender. Further studies should be performed.

     

Association between circadian preference and academic achievement: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The association between circadian preference and academic achievement has been assessed through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The literature searches retrieved 1647 studies; 31 studies, with a total sample size of 27?309 participants, fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. With reference to all these 31 studies, before running the meta-analysis, the sign of the correlation between the investigated variables was set in a way that a positive correlation showed that eveningness was related to worse academic performance. The meta-analysis yielded a small overall effect size of 0.143 (CI [0,129; 0,156]) under a fixed effects model (Z?=?20.584, p?<?0.001, I^2?=?72.656; Q?=?109.715) and of 0.145 (CI [0.117; 0.172]) under a random effects model (Z?=?10.077, p?<?0.001). A random effects model with a grouping variable (participants) revealed 15 studies based on school pupils and 16 on university students. The random model showed a higher effect size in school pupils (0.166, CI from 0.127 to 0.206) compared to university students (0.121, CI from 0.080 to 0.163). Self-report measures of grades revealed a stronger effect size (0.171; CI: 0.137 to 0.206; N?=?20) compared to objective measures (0.093; CI: 0.047 to 0.140; N?=?19). Overall, the present results suggest that evening orientation is associated with a worse academic performance, both in school pupils and university students; for the first time, it has been shown that such relationship changes over time, being weaker in university students.     

Morningness-eveningness, chronotypes and health-impairing behaviors in adolescents

The impact of diurnal preferences on health-related behaviors is acknowledged but relatively understudied. The aim of this study was threefold: (1) testing the measurement model of the Hungarian version of the reduced Horne-?stberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (Hungarian Version of the rMEQ); (2) estimating chronotypes and their prevalence; and (3) analyzing the relationship between morningness-eveningness/chronotypes and health-impairing behaviors, including smoking, alcohol use, and physical inactivity in adolescents. Self-reported data on the Hungarian version of the rMEQ, smoking, alcohol use, and physical inactivity obtained from Hungarian high-school students (ninth grade, N?=?2565) were analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), latent profile analysis (LPA), structural equation modeling, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). A one-factor model of morningness was supported, which included rising time, peak time, retiring time, and self-evaluation of chronotype. Morningness was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of smoking and alcohol use, and also with a lower level of physical inactivity. Using LPA, the authors identified three chronotypes: intermediate type (50.7%), morning type (30.5%), and evening type (18.8%). Compared to the evening-type participants, intermediate- and morning-type participants were significantly less likely to experiment with smoking, to smoke nondaily, and to smoke daily. Moreover, both intermediate- and morning-type students reported less lifetime alcohol use and less physical inactivity than evening-type students. Chronopsychological research can help to understand the relatively unexplored determinants of health-impairing behaviors in adolescents associated with chronotype.     

Social jetlag,academic achievement and cognitive performance: Understanding gender/sex differences

Adolescents in high school suffer from circadian misalignment, undersleeping on weekdays and oversleeping on weekends. Since high schools usually impose early schedules, adolescents suffer from permanent social jetlag (SJL) and thus are a suitable population to study the effects of SJL on both academic and cognitive performance. In this study, 796 adolescents aged 12–16 years reported information about their sleep habits, morningness–eveningness (M–E), cognitive abilities and grade point average (GPA). Time in bed on both weekdays and weekends was not related to cognitive abilities, and only time in bed on weekdays was related to academic achievement. SJL was negatively related to academic achievement, cognitive abilities (except for vocabulary and verbal fluency abilities) and general cognitive ability (g), whereas M–E was slightly positively related to academic achievement and marginally negatively related to inductive reasoning. Results separated by sex/gender indicated that SJL may be more detrimental to girls’ performance, as it was negatively related to a greater number of cognitive abilities and GPA.     

Male-female differences in family size preferences among college students

The question of differences between males and females in fertility values and attitudes was explored through surveys of unmarried male and female college students in North American colleges between 1967 and 1973. The tabulated data indicate that there is a definite difference in family size preference between males and females, with differences varying from 2- to 7/10 of a child depending on religious faith. Number of siblings in the respondent's family had no bearing on the family size preference. Nearly 1/2 of all respondents indicated a desire for number of children in the 2-4 range. However, males were more likely to prefer the lower end of the range while females preferred the upper end. Among all respondents, there were significant increases in preferences for 2-3 children and significant decreases in preferences for 5 or more, even among Catholics. In sum, Catholics preferred a range of 3-4 children with males choosing the lower and females the higher value. The optimal range for Protestants was 2-3, again with males preferring the lower and females the higher value. It is speculated that early socialization may be the reason why women prefer larger families. Research is needed into the effect of working and nonworking mothers on family size preferences of their children.