Psycho-Social Development Leading to a Shift in Chronotype: A Comparative Study of Circadian Preferences in Early and Late Adolescents

Amongst the human life history stages, the adolescence is of a small duration but marked by dramatic changes in psychosocial behaviour and physiology of an individual. It lies on the continuum of childhood and adulthood and therefore mediates the transformation of a young individual into an adult. It is quite likely that the initial stage (Early teens) of adolescence is different from that of later stage (Late teens) in terms of daily behaviours and time preference for various activities. We addressed this question in the current study by asking student volunteers to fill the questionnaire. On the basis of age, they were divided into Early Teens (ET: Mean age 14 ± 01 year) and Late Teens (LT: mean age 17 ± 01 year). Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) (Horne and Östberg 1976) was used to assess their time preference for daily activities. The micro-analysis of MEQ in both the groups showed significant difference in about half of the total items. Our findings suggest that the chronotype of ETs was inclined more towards morning ( p < 0.0001) , as they chose early bed timings ( p = 0.0001) , comfortable in getting up in the morning ( p = 0.0044) . However, they felt slightly tired in the morning first half an hour after wake up. To perform a mental and physical task, ETs preferred first half of the day compared to LTs ( p = 0.0034; p < 0.0001) . These results will help us understand the psycho-social development & shift in the time preferences in growing adolescents thus, helping the authorities to devise a better work schedule.