Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey , Surrey, UK.
College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, Division of Psychology, Brunel University London , London, UK.
Chronobiol Int. 2021 Jan;38(1):79-89. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2020.1810063. Epub 2020 Nov 3.
A diurnal preference for eveningness is common in young adulthood and previous research has associated eveningness with anxiety symptoms as well as increased smoking and alcohol use behaviors. There is some evidence that impulsivity might be an important explanatory variable in these associations, but this has not been comprehensively researched. Here we used both subjective and objective measures of impulsivity to characterize impulsive tendencies in young adults and investigated whether trait impulsivity or trait anxiety could mediate the link between eveningness and substance use. A total of 191 university students (169 females), age range 18-25 y, completed the study. Diurnal preference, sleep quality, anxiety, impulsivity, and substance use were assessed by questionnaire. Impulsivity was also measured using a delay discounting task. Eveningness correlated with trait anxiety and trait impulsivity, and these associations were still significant after controlling for sleep quality. On the delayed discounting task, eveningness correlated with a tendency to prefer smaller immediate rewards over delayed, larger ones. Evening types also reported higher levels of alcohol and cigarette use even after controlling for sleep quality. These associations were found to be completely mediated by self-reported impulsivity; anxiety did not contribute. The current results could help inform interventions aiming to reduce substance use in young adult populations.
在青年时期，人们普遍存在对夜间型的偏好，先前的研究表明夜间型与焦虑症状以及增加的吸烟和饮酒行为有关。有一些证据表明，冲动性可能是这些关联的一个重要解释变量，但这尚未得到全面研究。在这里，我们使用了主观和客观的冲动性测量方法来描述年轻人的冲动倾向，并研究了特质冲动性或特质焦虑是否可以调节夜间型与物质使用之间的联系。共有 191 名年龄在 18-25 岁之间的大学生（169 名女性）完成了这项研究。通过问卷评估了昼夜偏好、睡眠质量、焦虑、冲动性和物质使用情况。冲动性也使用延迟折扣任务进行测量。夜间型与特质焦虑和特质冲动性相关，这些关联在控制睡眠质量后仍然显著。在延迟折扣任务中，夜间型与偏好较小的即时奖励而不是延迟的、更大的奖励的倾向相关。即使在控制睡眠质量后，夜间型的人也报告了更高水平的酒精和香烟使用。这些关联完全由自我报告的冲动性所介导；焦虑并没有贡献。目前的结果可以帮助为旨在减少青年人群体中物质使用的干预措施提供信息。
