Circadian typology and the Alternative Five-Factor Model of personality

Two studies were carried out to explore the relationship between circadian typology and the Alternative Five-Factor Model of personality. In the first study, 379 participants (232 females) were administered the reduced version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire. Evening types reported higher impulsive sensation-seeking scores than morning and intermediate types, whereas morning types scored higher than evening types on activity factor. In the second study, the association between morningness and activity personality factor was verified through the objective-actigraphic monitoring of the rest-activity cycle. Actigraphy allowed us to operationalise both circadian typology, through the computing of midpoint of sleep (early values, expressed in hours and minutes, correspond to an advanced phase of the sleep/wake cycle), and activity factor by the means of motor activity recording. Fifty-one individuals (30 females) wore an actigraph on the nondominant wrist continuously for 1 week. A negative correlation was observed between midpoint of sleep and mean diurnal motor activity, demonstrating that an early phase of the sleep/wake cycle (i.e. morningness preference) was related to higher diurnal motor activity. Assessed both subjectively and objectively, the results of both studies highlight a significant relationship between morningness and activity personality factor.