Association between circadian preference and academic achievement: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The association between circadian preference and academic achievement has been assessed through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The literature searches retrieved 1647 studies; 31 studies, with a total sample size of 27 309 participants, fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. With reference to all these 31 studies, before running the meta-analysis, the sign of the correlation between the investigated variables was set in a way that a positive correlation showed that eveningness was related to worse academic performance. The meta-analysis yielded a small overall effect size of 0.143 (CI [0,129; 0,156]) under a fixed effects model (Z = 20.584, p < 0.001, I²= 72.656; Q = 109.715) and of 0.145 (CI [0.117; 0.172]) under a random effects model (Z = 10.077, p < 0.001). A random effects model with a grouping variable (participants) revealed 15 studies based on school pupils and 16 on university students. The random model showed a higher effect size in school pupils (0.166, CI from 0.127 to 0.206) compared to university students (0.121, CI from 0.080 to 0.163). Self-report measures of grades revealed a stronger effect size (0.171; CI: 0.137 to 0.206; N = 20) compared to objective measures (0.093; CI: 0.047 to 0.140; N = 19). Overall, the present results suggest that evening orientation is associated with a worse academic performance, both in school pupils and university students; for the first time, it has been shown that such relationship changes over time, being weaker in university students.

• Academic achievement
• circadian preference
• meta-analysis
• morningness
• systematic review

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank their colleagues who provided them with additional data.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This study was not supported by any funders.