Eveningness diurnal preference associated with poorer socioemotional cognition and social functioning among healthy adolescents and young adults.

Recently there has been growing interest in associations between sleep, emotion, and social functioning. Less is known about relationships between chronotype preference and socioemotional cognition and functioning, particularly among adolescents, who experience dramatic normative shifts in diurnal preference, affective functioning, and social competence. Fifty-five healthy adolescents and young adults completed a self-report chronotype preference measure, a computerized measure of socioemotional cognition, and a semi-structured clinical interview assessing interpersonal functioning. Greater eveningness preference was associated with poorer socioemotional cognition and social functioning in this age group. Future studies should assess these relationships across development and using objective measures of circadian timing.