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. 2017 Oct;34(10):967-976.
doi: 10.1002/da.22682. Epub 2017 Sep 8.

The relationship between depression and chronotype: A longitudinal assessment during childhood and adolescence

Dustin A Haraden  1 , Benjamin C Mullin  2 , Benjamin L Hankin  1
Affiliations

The relationship between depression and chronotype: A longitudinal assessment during childhood and adolescence

Dustin A Haraden et al. Depress Anxiety. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Background/objective: During adolescence, chronotype shifts toward "eveningness." "Eveningness" is related to negative physical and mental health outcomes. Little is known about what influences the shift in chronotype beyond pubertal status. The current study examined the influence of earlier depression predicting later individual differences in adolescent chronotype, accounting for pubertal status, and the prospective prediction of later increases in depression from earlier chronotype.

Methods: Youth (age M = 12.06, SD = 2.35; 56.5% girls) from the community completed repeated assessments of depression, including both self-reports (14 assessments) and diagnostic interviews (eight assessments), over a 48-month period. At the 36-month timepoint, participants completed chronotype and pubertal development measures. Regression and ANOVA analyses examined: (1) the influence of earlier depression levels (baseline to 36 months) upon chronotype, and (2) chronotype (at 36 months) upon later depression (48 months).

Results: Youth with higher earlier depression symptoms (β = -0.347, P < .001) and history of depression diagnosis (β = -0.13, P = .045) showed a greater eveningness preference controlling for pubertal status, age, and gender. Further, depression diagnosis history interacted with pubertal status to predict chronotype: (F(1,243) = 4.171, P = .045) such that the influence of depression on chronotype was greatest among postpubertal youth (t = 3.271, P = .002). Chronotype (greater eveningness preference) predicted prospective increases in depression symptoms (β = -0.16, P = .03) and onset of depressive episode (b = -0.085, OR = 0.92, P = .03) 1 year later.

Conclusion: Depression, experienced earlier in life, predicts greater preference for eveningness, especially among postpubertal youth. In turn, later depression is predicted by evening preference. These findings suggest the reciprocal interplay between mood and biological rhythms, especially depression and chronotype, during adolescence.

Keywords: circadian rhythm; depression; eveningness; morningness; puberty; sleep; youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The accelerated longitudinal design allowed for examination of our two questions developmentally. Question 1 examined depression symptoms and diagnosis measured prospectively across 3-years (blue section) to predict individual differences in chronotype. Question 2 examined the influence of chronotype upon later depression (orange section). Average age of pubertal onset (Patton & Viner, 2007) is indicated on the graph to show when the sample typically transitions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The effect of depression upon chronotype is moderated by pubertal status such that postpubertal youth with a history of depression show a greater preference towards eveningness. MESC – Morningness/Eveningness Scale in Children
Figure 3
Figure 3
The percentage of youth categorized as having an evening preference increases two-fold when considering both history of depression and post-pubertal status. Intermediate type omitted from visualization to allow for proper scaling between morning and evening preferences.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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