Şenol Beşoluk

Smartphone addiction proneness in relation to sleep and morningness–eveningness in German adolescents

Background Mobile phones are an important part of adolescents’ life. In this study, the relationships among smartphone addiction, age, gender, and chronotype of German adolescents were examined. Materials and methods Two studies focused on two different measures of smartphone addiction. The Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) was applied to 342 younger adolescents (13.39 ± 1.77; 176 boys, 165 girls, and 1 not indicated) in Study 1 and the Smartphone Addiction Scale was applied to 208 older adolescents (17.07 ± 4.28; 146 girls and 62 boys) in Study 2, both samples in southwest Germany. In addition, a demographic questionnaire and the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) and sleep measures were implemented. Results The most remarkable result of this study was that morningness–eveningness (as measured by CSM scores) is an important predictor for smartphone addiction; even stronger than sleep duration. Evening oriented adolescents scored higher on both smartphone addiction scales. In addition, gender is an important predictor for smartphone addiction and girls are more prone to become addicted. In addition, while sleep duration on weekdays negatively predicted SAPS, age, sleep duration on weekends, and midpoint of sleep on weekdays and weekends did not predicted smartphone addiction in both scales. The analysis of covariance revealed statistically significant effects of the covariates gender and age in both studies, as well as the main effect of chronotype. According to the t-test results, girls had higher scores than boys in smartphone addiction. Conclusion Evening types and girls are more prone to become smartphone addicted.

Age and gender differences in morningness–eveningness in Turkish adolescents and young adults

The aim of this study was to analyze gender and age differences in chronotype preference in a Turkish sample using the Composite Scale of Morningness. Four thousand four hundred and twenty three participants were randomly sampled from students in Turkey. Ages ranged from 11 to 23 and the average age was 16.39 years. There was a significant influence of age and gender. After controlling for age, girls were more morning oriented with one exception: At the age of 16 years, girls had a higher evening orientation than boys, while at the age of 13, 17, and 19 boys showed higher eveningness. Turkish girls become morning oriented from the early age of 15 years onwards, while boys reported their peak of eveningness at the age of 19. This is fascinating, since it is the earliest age reported for a turn to morningness in girls compared to previous studies. Interestingly, girls perform a second turn towards eveningness between the ages of 17 and 19. Cultural background may imprint the early shift back to morningness in girls, since Turkish parenting styles are different for boys and girls with a more authoritarian parenting style for girls, e.g. girls help their mothers. Later on, enrolment in university might foster more independence and promote the drift back to eveningness.

Morningness–eveningness and the environment hypothesis – A cross-cultural comparison of Turkish and German adolescents

Individuals differ in morningness–eveningness, which is their preferred time for intellectual and physical activities. Although it is a basic human trait, cross-cultural comparisons are scarce but interesting because they help to determine the influence of exogenous factors, such as ambient temperature, climate and photoperiod. We here compare a large sample of German and Turkish adolescents (N = 26 465) by using the Composite Scale of Morningness and the Morning Affect Factor. First, we show that the Morning Affect Factor and Morningness scores are equivalent in both countries and we report country differences with Turkish adolescents scoring higher on morningness (F1,26 038 = 1293.313, p < 0.001) and in the morning affect (F1,26 038 = 133.833, p < 0.001). This fits into the environment hypothesis suggesting that populations near the equator should be more morning oriented. Meanwhile, gender differences were small and adolescents showed a lower morningness and a lower morning affect with increasing age.

Adaptation of the morningness eveningness scale for children into Turkish

Circadian rhythm refers to individuals’ preference associated with morning or evening activities. Circadian rhythm generally is measured by self reported instruments. One of these instruments is Morningness Eveningness Scale for Children (MESC). The aims of the study were to adapt MESC into Turkish, to determine psychometric properties of Turkish MESC and to assess chronotype preference in children aged from 9 to 12. A group of 515 children (4th to 6th graders) participated in the study. The explanatory factor analysis on the 10 items of the Turkish MESC revealed three orthogonal factors. Moreover, results of second order confirmatory factor analysis indicated that three factor structure of MESC explains morningness eveningness preference. The internal consistency and external validity of the Turkish MESC was sufficient and similar to previous studies. In overall, MESC is a valid and reliable instrument and can be used to assess circadian preferences in Turkish samples.

Do seasonal changes and teaching time affect academic performance of pre-service teachers?

Effects of time of day of being taught and the seasons on academic performance in students have received little attention by practitioners and researchers in the field of education. The aim of this study was to explore whether these factors were relevant to the academic success of a group of 2479 university students. The fall and spring semester grade point average (GPA) scores (a measure of academic attainment) of the students were collected. The results indicated that female students who were taught at different times of the day had different cumulative GPAs. Various factors might be responsible for this result, but the time of teaching might be one of them. It was also found that seasonal changes might affect academic achievement, since sophomore, junior and senior students had higher scores in the spring and a considerable number of students periodically obtained higher scores in this season.

Association of dietary patterns with circadian preference, sleep and personality in high school students

Abstract Unhealthy dietary patterns are increasing in adolescence in the modern era, so it is important to investigate variables that associate with dietary patterns. This study aimed to analyse the association of dietary patterns with circadian preference, sleep and personality in high school students. Moreover, the change in dietary pattern with respect to circadian preference, breakfast skipping and sleep quality was also examined. Four thousand nine hundred and seventy-one high school students with the age ranged 14–18 participated in to the current study. The results indicated that breakfast skipping, circadian preference, sleep quality, average sleep length, social jetlag, the midpoint of sleep in free days corrected, conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability are associated factors of dietary patterns. Meanwhile circadian preference × breakfast skipping interaction effect was significant. It was also found that nearly one-fourth of the students are in the high risk level dietary pattern. As a conclusion sleeping well, being a morning type, being conscientiousness generally improve healthier dietary patterns and decrease breakfast skipping.

Gifted and non-gifted students’ diurnal preference and the relationship between personality, sleep, and sleep quality

Abstract The current study had two main objectives. First, we examined gifted and non-gifted students’ diurnal preferences. Secondly, we examined the relationships among age, gender, personality, sleep quality, and chronotype of gifted students. Data were gathered from 276 gifted students and 1921 non-gifted students whose ages range between 7 and 17 years old, in same three cities in Turkey using the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) to assess diurnal preference, the Big Five Inventory (BIG-5) to assess personality and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality. The first result indicated that gifted students were more morning-oriented compared to non-gifted students. The other main result was that the conscientiousness was the best predictor of CSM scores in gifted students. Additionally, conscientiousness, age, and global PSQI predicted CSM scores, respectively. Moreover agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability were positively related to morning orientation, while age, sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction, and global PSQI were negatively related with chronotype in gifted students.