Social rhythm and mental health accounting for chronotype: Latent profiles and conditional-process pathways in adolescents and young adults.

STUDY

OBJECTIVES

Technological advancements have fragmented lives, disrupting biological and social rhythms. While biological rhythms (e.g., chronotype) are relatively stable, social rhythms are modifiable and intervention-ready. However, the independent impact of different social rhythms on mental health, separate from chronotype, remains unclear.

METHODS

The research included two studies: a survey of 92,466 university students (mean age 19.70; 53,964 female, 38,502 male) and diagnostic interviews with 2993 elementary/middle-school students (mean age 13.79; 1934 female, 1059 male). Both assessed chronotype, social rhythm, and mental-health outcomes; analyses used latent profile analysis and regression.

RESULTS

In both adult and adolescent studies, three analogous social-rhythm subgroups were identified: Low-Low, Low-High, and High-High. In the adult study, chronotype and social rhythm were significantly associated. Moderately active (AOR = 20.34) and evening chronotype (AOR = 13.41) individuals were significantly more likely to be classified in the High-High group. After controlling for chronotype, all non-reference subgroups had a significantly higher likelihood of psychological symptoms than the reference group (p < 0.001). For example, the High-High group were associated with notably higher odds of depression (AOR = 8.81, 95 % CI = 8.26-9.39; ME = 0.53, 95 % CI = 0.52, 0.54; p < 0.001). Furthermore, conditional process analyses clarified that social rhythm mediates the link between chronotype and mental health, and that this mediation varies by chronotype. Similar findings were observed in the adolescent study.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identifies comparable social-rhythm subgroups across age groups and finds that greater irregularity is associated with poorer mental health outcomes.