Circadian preference in young adults: Associations with sleep and mental health outcomes from a national survey of Norwegian university students

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the SHOT 2022 study.

	Total (n = 59,544)
Age, mean (SD)	26.1 (7.3)
Gender, % (n)
Women	66.5 (39,577)
Men	33.5 (19,967)
Single, % (n)	48.1 (28,518)
Ethnicity, % (n)
Norwegian	89.2 (53,141)
Non-Norwegian	10.8 (6,403)
Maternal education, % (n)
Primary	6.3 (3,615)
Secondary	30.0 (17,219)
College/university	63.7 (36,532)
Paternal education, % (n)
Primary	7.6 (4,269)
Secondary	37.6 (21.145)
College/university	54.8 (30,799)

Figure 1. Response pattern of chronotype in male and female college and university students in the SHoT2022 study. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 2. Chronotype and mental health and sleep indicators (Y axis) in male and female college and university students. Values represent age-adjusted estimated marginal means (EMM) and standard errors in parentheses. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Significant chronotype differences are indicated for each row in the table using superscript letters, calculated at the .05 significance level.

Table 2. Chronotype and risk for poor mental health in female and male college and university students.

	Definitely evening type (n = 15,708)	More evening than morning type (n = 20,176)	More morning than evening type (n = 16,171)
	RR (95% CI)	RR (95%)	RR (95% CI)
Women
Mental health problems	1.57 (1.50–1.65) ^a	1.26 (1.20-1-33) ^b	1.09 (1.04–1.15) ^c
Anxiety disorder	1.74 (1.58–1.92) ^a	1.31 (1.19–1.44) ^b	1.07 (0.97–1.19) ^c
Depression	2.17 (1.96–2.40) ^a	1.61 (1.45–1.78) ^b	1.20 (1.08–1.33) ^c
Quality of life (poor)	1.73 (1.63–1.84) ^a	1.35 (1.27–1.44) ^b	1.14 (1.07–1.22) ^c
Loneliness	1.44 (1.31–1.59) ^a	1.15 (1.04–1.26) ^b	0.95 (0.86–1.05) ^c
Self-harm (recent)	1.67 (1.40–1.98) ^a	1.35 (1.14–1.60) ^b	1.15 (0.96–1.37) ^c
Suicidal thoughts (recent)	1.76 (1.55–2.00) ^a	1.42 (1.25–1.61) ^b	1.18 (1.04–1.35) ^c
Men
Mental health problems	2.16 (1.91–2.44) ^a	1.58 (1.39–1.79) ^b	1.22 (1.07–1.39) ^c
Anxiety disorder	2.52 (1.97–3.21) ^a	1.90 (1.49–2.43) ^b	1.38 (1.06–1.78) ^c
Depression	2.41 (1.99–2.92) ^a	1.65 (1.35–2.00) ^b	1.18 (0.95–1.45) ^c
Quality of life (poor)	1.93 (1.76–2.12) ^a	1.48 (1.35–1.63) ^b	1.09 (0.99–1.21) ^c
Loneliness	1.79 (1.52–2.19) ^a	1.22 (1.04–1.44) ^b	0.92 (0.77–1.09) ^c
Self-harm (recent)	1.92 (1.30–2.83) ^a	1.56 (1.05–2.30) ^b	1.05 (0.69–1.61) ^c
Suicidal thoughts (recent)	1.76 (1.44–2.16) ^a	1.33 (1.09–1.63) ^b	1.08 (0.87–1.33) ^c

Reference category: “definitely a morning type”.

RR: age-adjusted relative risk.

Significant differences between RR for each row are indicated by superscript letters, calculated at the 0.05 significance level.

Data availability statement

The SHoT2022 dataset is administrated by the National Institute of Public Health. Approval from a Norwegian regional committee for medical and health research ethics [https://helseforskning.etikkom.no] is a prerequisite. Guidelines for access to SHoT2022 data are found at [https://www.fhi.no/en/more/access-to-data].