Normal lark, deviant owl: The relationship between chronotype and compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures

Abstract

Current evidence suggests that preventive measures, such as social distancing and wearing face masks, are critical to contain the spread of COVID-19. The recent burgeoning literature has empirically examined how a wide range of facet-level personality and individual-differences variables are associated with people's adherence to COVID-19 regulations. However, there lacks direct evidence regarding the role of chronotype in compliance with pandemic safety measures. According to the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis, people of later chronotype are more likely to breach COVID-19 restrictions. Despite this hypothesis shedding considerable light on the potential role of chronotype in the abidance of the virus-mitigating measures, it has not been rigorously tested using empirical data. To fill this gap, the present research investigated the link between morningness-eveningness and compliance with COVID-19 containment policies in Chinese samples. Two studies using multiple populations (students and community adults) and diverse measures of adherence to public health guidelines (self-report and actual behavior) consistently show that individuals who orient towards morningness display a higher level of compliance with COVID-19 prevention than people who orient towards eveningness. Overall, these findings present the first empirical confirmation of the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis, highlighting the role of chronotype in adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chronotype; eveningness; individual differences; morningness; preventive measures.