The relationship between chronotype and food addiction: Serial mediation of social jetlag and psychological pain

ABSTRACT

This study evaluates how food addiction is related to chronotype, social jetlag, and psychological pain. Of the participants (n = 1,035 university students), 16.6% had a morning chronotype, 25.1% had an evening chronotype, and 25.1% were clinically addicted to eating. The mean sleep durations for participants were 7.41 ± 2.18 h and 8.95 ± 3.0 h on weekdays and weekends, respectively. The mean misalignment time for social jetlag was 1.45 ± 1.5 h. Food addiction, psychological pain, and social jetlag levels were high among participants with the evening chronotype. The risk factors for food addiction included being female, having an evening chronotype, and having high body mass index levels and psychological pain. The total indirect effect of psychological pain and social jetlag on the relationship between chronotype and food addiction was 20.6%. However, the social jetlag effect is relatively minor compared to psychological pain. The significant conclusions of this study are as follows. Clinical food addiction is prevalent among students, and a strong direct correlation between chronotype and food addiction was observed. The study emphasizes the importance of being aware of chronotype and mental status in establishing a healthy diet and lifestyle.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronotype
• food addiction
• social jetlag
• psychological pain

Acknowledgments

We would also like to thank everyone who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No financial or personal matters may pose a conflict of interest.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Credit authorship contribution statement

Burcu Ceylan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. Deniz Kocoglu- Tanyer: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration, Writing – original draft. Zeynep Saçıkara; Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing, Resources. Kübra Sultan Dengız: Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval

The University Human Research Ethics Committee approved

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.