Juan Manuel Antúnez

Circadian typology is related to resilience and optimism in healthy adults

The relationships between circadian typology and several aspects related to mental health, such as satisfaction with life, emotional intelligence, perceived well-being and psychopathological symptomatology have been documented. However, their relationships with two psychological strengths such as resilience and optimism have not been examined yet. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore whether circadian typology is related to both measures, taking into consideration the possible influence of sex. A sample of 1922 participants (978 men), aged between 18 and 60 yrs (30.08 ± 10.53) completed the reduced Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ), the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (10-item CD-RISC) and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Circadian typology was associated with different values in resilience (F(2,1915) = 45.89; p < 0.001;  = 0.046) and optimism (F(2,1915) = 37.74; p < 0.001;  = 0.038), independently of the sex. Morning-type subjects showed the highest resilience and optimism scores while the lowest scores were shown by evening-type, exhibiting the neither-type subjects intermediate scores (p < 0.007, in all cases). These results suggest that evening-type subjects could display less capacity to face adversity and adapt positively, as well as less expectance of the occurrence of positive events compared to neither and morning-type individuals. In addition, these results provide new evidence that might improve our understanding about the relationships between circadian typology and psychological traits and disorders. Although future studies with longitudinal designs are needed, the obtained results emphasize that the evening-type could be a risk factor for the development of psychological problems and mental disorders, whereas the morning-type could be considered as a protective factor.

Circadian Typology and Emotional Intelligence in Healthy Adults

Several aspects related to health, such as satisfaction with life, perceived well-being, and psychopathological symptomatology have been associated with circadian typology and with emotional intelligence. Nevertheless, the relationships between circadian typology and emotional intelligence have not been explored yet. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationships between circadian typology and emotional intelligence, taking into account the possible interactions between sex and physical exercise, and controlling for age. A sample of 1011 participants (649 women), aged between 18 and 50 yrs (26.92 ± 6.53) completed the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ) and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24). The TMMS-24 considers three dimensions of emotional intelligence: emotional attention, emotional clarity, and emotional repair. Women showed higher values for emotional attention, whereas men showed higher values for emotional repair (p < 0.035, in both cases). Subjects who do physical exercise weekly showed higher values for emotional repair (p = 0.001) regardless of circadian typology or sex. Circadian typology presents differences in all scores of emotional intelligence dimensions. Morning-type had lower emotional attention than evening- and neither-type; neither-type had lower emotional repair than morning-type, and lower emotional clarity than both evening- and morning-type (p < 0.046, in all cases). Moreover, circadian typology modulated the sex differences in emotional attention, and only morning-type men showed a low emotional attention score. From the results of emotional intelligence we can conclude that morning typology may be a protective factor in terms of general health, whereas we should be aware that the neither-type may present a possible vulnerability to develop psychological problems.

Conscientiousness but not agreeableness mediates females' tendency toward being a morning person

Individuals differ in their chronotype, and some are identified as morning ones and others as evening ones. Earlier studies showed that women were higher on morningness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. In this study, we aimed at exploring the mediational effects of conscientiousness and agreeableness in the relationship of gender and morningness-eveningness. Participants were 669 university students. Results supported positive relationships between morningness and conscientiousness and agreeableness and between conscientiousness and agreeableness. Females were higher on all these three variables. Mediation analyses suggested that the effect of gender (here females) on chronotype (here morningness) was mediated by conscientiousness but not agreeableness so that after the mediation partially occurred, the genders effect did not remain significant anymore. This study backed our hypothesis that conscientiousness might play a more pronounced role than the intrinsic diurnal rhythm concerning the sex differences in chronotype.

Circadian rhythmicity in substance use disorder male patients with and without comorbid depression under ambulatory and therapeutic community treatment

ABSTRACT Although there have been described alterations of circadian rhythmicity both in patients with substance use disorder (SUD) and patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), the circadian characteristics of SUD patients with comorbid MDD (SUD-MDD) are unknown. Likewise, the possible influence of the different modalities of treatments (ambulatory or therapeutic community) upon the circadian rhythmicity of SUD patients has not been characterized. Therefore, this study analyzes the circadian rhythmic profiles of SUD and SUD-MDD patients under ambulatory and therapeutic community treatment. The sample was composed of 40 SUD and 40 SUD-MDD men, aged 22–55 yrs, under treatment and with abstinence for at least three months (including each group 20 ambulatory and 20 from therapeutic community). Patients completed a sociodemographic, clinical and sleep-wake schedules interview, the Composite Scale of Morningness, and wore on the wrist an ambulatory device known as iButton® Thermochron DS1921H, which registered their distal skin temperature every two minutes for 48 hours. All the groups showed a tendency to morningness without differences among them in concordance with their sleep-wake schedules. With regard to distal skin temperature circadian rhythm, SUD patients showed higher values than SUD-MDD in amplitude, relative amplitude, percentage rhythm, and first harmonic power, and lower minimum temperature in 10 consecutive hours (p < .043, in all cases). Therapeutic community group values were lower in minimum temperature and higher in amplitude, relative amplitude, and 12 harmonic accumulated power (p < .028, in all cases) as compared to ambulatory ones. Moreover, all groups showed higher Rayleigh vector and rhythm stability as compared to normative population (p < .043, in both cases). The circadian rhythmic differences observed for diagnosis and type of treatment are indicative of a higher circadian rhythmicity robustness in SUD and therapeutic community patients as compared to SUD-MDD and ambulatory ones, respectively. Although drug consumption exerts a negative effect on the circadian rhythmicity, our results (high amplitude and rhythm stability) are indicative of an adequate circadian functioning as well as of an adjustment to the light-dark cycle in both diagnosis and type of treatment which may constitute a marker of the adherence to treatment and recovery status.

Coping strategies related to treatment in substance use disorder patients with and without comorbid depression

Coping strategies exert an important influence in the development and course of both substance use disorder (SUD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) and its treatment outcomes. We examined the coping strategies related to treatment in SUD and SUD-MDD patients and their associations with clinical characteristics. Forty SUD and 40 SUD-MDD males, each group composed by 20 therapeutic community and 20 ambulatory treatment patients, were assessed through the Coping Strategies Inventory and clinical characteristics questionnaires. SUD-MDD patients scored higher in Disengagement strategies such as Social Withdrawal and lower in Engagement ones such as Problem Solving, Cognitive Restructuring and Social Support, as well as in self-perceived capacity for coping. No differences for treatment were found. SUD and, specially, SUD-MDD patients scored higher than norms in maladaptive strategies. Time of abstinence, age of onset and severity of SUD were related to maladaptive coping. SUD and SUD-MDD patients are prone to employ Disengagement coping strategies and SUD-MDD patients coping repertory is more maladaptive than the SUD ones. Likewise, clinical characteristics associated to maladaptive coping might differ by diagnosis and modality of treatment in male patients. These findings could be considered for the treatment design and to improve the recovery and prevent relapses.