Gender differences in chronotype diminish with age: a meta-analysis based on morningness/chronotype questionnaires

May 10, 2019Chronobiology international

Gender differences in daily activity patterns decrease with age: a meta-analysis based on morningness questionnaires

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Abstract

A total of 186,289 participants were analyzed, revealing that men are on average more evening oriented than women.

The analysis included 164 studies and 201 effect size measures related to chronotype.
An effect size of the standardized mean difference was calculated at -0.072, indicating a slight evening preference in men compared to women.
Significant effects on the standardized mean difference in chronotype were found related to mean age, standard deviation of age, and publication year.
Chronotype differences between genders may diminish with increasing mean age, suggesting that younger women are more morning-oriented than younger men.
The standardized mean difference in chronotype has been decreasing over time, indicating a changing trend in gender differences.

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Chronotype is an individual difference trait that is closely linked to biological variables. Usually, men and women differ in their chronotype with men being more evening oriented than women. The aim of the study was to assess gender differences in chronotype based on a systematic review and meta-analysis. In addition, many recent studies do not report gender differences any more although researchers collected data on men and women. This motivated us to contact many researchers directly to obtain and use these additional data. We included 164 studies giving 201 effect size measures in a data set, which only included the most commonly used questionnaires (MEQ, rMEQ and CSM) totaling 186,289 participants in total, of which 75,622 were men and 110,667 were women. We calculated an effect size of the standardized mean difference of -0.072 (95% CI from -0.062 to -0.082) in the fixed effects and of -0.066 (95% CI from -0.043 to- 0.089) in the random effects model. Men were on average more evening oriented than women. Type of questionnaire did not influence the standardized mean difference in chronotype between genders. Mean age, standard deviation of age and publication year (p ≤ 0.05) were found to have significant effects on the standardized mean difference in chronotype between genders. The standardized mean difference in chronotype between genders is predicted to change from negative to positive with increasing mean age (young women were more morning orientated than young men, but older women were less morning orientated than older men). This suggests that the differences between men and women diminish with time. The standardized mean difference in chronotype between genders is decreasing with increasing publication year, as well as with high variation in age of the samples.CSM: Composite Scale of Morningness (Smith et al. 1989); MEQ: Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (Horne and Ostberg, 1976); rMEQ: reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (Adan & Almiral, 1991); SMD: standardized mean difference (measure of effect size). Abbreviations:

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Gender differences in chronotype diminish with age: a meta-analysis based on morningness/chronotype questionnaires

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