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Morningness-eveningness assessment from mobile phone communication analysis.

ABSTRACT: Human behaviour follows a 24-h rhythm and is known to be governed by the individual chronotypes. Due to the widespread use of technology in our daily lives, it is possible to record the activities of individuals through their different digital traces. In the present study we utilise a large mobile phone communication dataset containing time stamps of calls and text messages to study the circadian rhythms of anonymous users in a European country. After removing the effect of the synchronization of East-West sun progression with the calling activity, we used two closely related approaches to heuristically compute the chronotypes of the individuals in the dataset, to identify them as morning persons or "larks" and evening persons or "owls". Using the computed chronotypes we showed how the chronotype is largely dependent on age with younger cohorts being more likely to be owls than older cohorts. Moreover, our analysis showed how on average females have distinctly different chronotypes from males. Younger females are more larkish than males while older females are more owlish. Finally, we also studied the period of low calling activity for each of the users which is considered as a marker of their sleep period during the night. We found that while "extreme larks" tend to sleep more than "extreme owls" on the weekends, we do not observe much variation between them on weekdays. In addition, we have observed that women tend to sleep even less than males on weekdays while there is not much difference between them on the weekends.

SUBMITTER: Roy C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8285513 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Assessing morningness-eveningness preferences (chronotype), an individual characteristic that is mirrored in daily mental and physiological fluctuations, is crucial given their overarching influence in a variety of domains. The current work aimed to investigate the best factor structure of an instrument recently presented to asses this characteristic: the Morningness-Eveningness-Stability-Scale improved (MESSi). For the first time, the originally proposed three-factor structure was pitched against a uni- and a two-factor solution. Another novelty was to establish that the best-fitting model would be invariant in relation to sex and age, two variables that influence chronotype. A Confirmatory Factor Analyses on the data obtained from a sample of 2096 German adults (age: 18-76; M = 25.5, SD = 7.64) revealed that the originally proposed three-factor structure of the MESSi - Morning Affect, Eveningness, and Distinctness - was the only one to achieve acceptable fit indicators. Furthermore, each scale obtained good internal consistency. In order to assess age invariance, following the literature on development and chronotype, our sample was divided into three age groups: 18-21 years, 22-31 years, and 32 years or older. Full measurement invariance of the three-factor model was found for sex and age. Regarding differences between sexes, females did not differ significantly from males in Morning Affect, but scored significantly lower on Eveningness and higher on Distinctness; this last result has been consistent across validation studies of the MESSi. With respect to age differences, the oldest group scored lower on Eveningness and Distinctness in comparison with the other two age-groups; the intermediate group (age: 22-31) scored lower on Morning Affect when compared to both the younger and older age groups. Additionally, both Eveningness and Distinctness were negatively correlated with age. This latter relation has been consistently reported in other validation studies. Our results reinforce the idea that the MESSi assesses three different components of chronotype in a reliable manner and that this instrument can be used to explore sex and age differences.

Project description:The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to conveniently assess the diurnal preferences of physical activity (PA) in Japanese university students. A total of 219 subjects completed our novel Morningness-eveningness Exercise Preference Questionnaire (MEEPQ). The MEEPQ consisted of 30 items (15 items for the morning and the same 15 items for the evening) rated on a 5-point Likert scale concerning their preference for participating in PA in the morning and evening. The morning score (MS) and evening score (ES) were determined by summing each of the respective 15 items. The internal consistency and construct validity were assessed, and a factor analysis was conducted. To examine the external validity of the MEEPQ, participants wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days to measure their PA levels objectively. Finally, the test-retest reliability was evaluated at a one-month interval. The MEEPQ showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.896) and construct validity (morning KMO = 0.913, evening KMO = 0.875). A factor analysis showed a three-factor structure involving Physical Wellness (MEEPQ-W), Psychological Well-Being (MEEPQ-P) and Exercise Barrier (MEEPQ-B). The percent of variance was largest for MEEPQ-W in the morning (45.2%) and MEEPQ-P in the evening (40.8%). Test-retest showed that MEEPQ scores had fair repeatability. Significant and positive associations between scores and objectively measured PA levels were found in the MS and 6-9 AM PA and in the ES and 6-9 PM and 9 PM- 0 AM PA (all p<0.05). In summary, the novel MEEPQ showed relatively good agreement and thus can be used for Japanese university student samples. In the MEEPQ, three factors (the physical wellness, psychological well-being and exercise barrier) contributed to a morning or evening PA preference. The summed scores were significantly associated with the objectively measured PA levels in both the morning and evening. Therefore the MEEPQ appears to be a suitable tool for assessing diurnal PA preferences.

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Morningness-eveningness assessment from mobile phone communication analysis.

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