Association of happiness with morningness - eveningness preference, sleep-related variables and academic performance in university students

ABSTRACT

Happiness, defined as thecognitive and emotional evaluations of individual’s life as a whole, not only gives individuals positive emotions, but also has positive returns in many areas related to the individual’s life. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the association of happiness with morningness – eveningness preference, sleep-related variables and academic performance in university students. 547 university students (80.4% female, 19.6% male) aged between 19 and 25 years participated in the study. Demographic Questionnaire, CSM and OHQ-SF  were used as data collection instruments. Happiness correlated negatively with MSFsc and positively with both M-E Preference and CGPA. Meanwhile, M-E Preference and CGPA were associative factors of Happiness. Univariate two-way ANCOVA provided a significant two-way interaction. The pairwise comparisons indicated that M-type Achievers had higher happiness scores compared to M-type Underachievers. Similarly, E-type Achievers had higher happiness scores compared to E-type Underachievers. Meanwhile, Happiness scores of both Achievers and Underachievers significantly differed in M-E Preference categories. Happiness scores of Achiever M-types differed significantly from Achiever N-types in favour of M-types. Underachiever N-types had higher happiness scores compared to Underachiever E-types. These results indicate that students’ happiness scores increase depending on the increase in student’s academic performance and the student’s being an earlier chronotype.

KEYWORDS:

• Happiness
• morningness-eveningness preference
• academic performance
• average sleep length
• social jetlag

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to students who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

The author declares that there is no conflict of academic or financial interest.

Ethical statement

All procedures performed in study involving human participants were in accordance with American Psychological Association ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study.