Association between morningness- eveningness and temperament and character in community- dwelling Korean adults

Abstract

IntroductionPrevious studies have reported an association between biogenetic temperament/character and circadian preference in Spanish or French college students. Our aim is to investigate the association between temperament/character and circadian preference in psychiatrically healthy, community-dwelling Korean adults of a wide age range. MethodsSubjects free of Axis I disorders (n=342) completed the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Temperament and Character Inventory. ResultsHigh Novelty Seeking and low Self-Directedness was associated with eveningness. In contrast to prior studies on college students, eveningness was associated with high (not low) Harm Avoidance. Eveningness-Novelty Seeking association and Eveningness-Harm Avoidance association were prominent in females. Eveningness-Novelty Seeking was prominent in the older group (age 40), while Eveningness-Harm Avoidance was prominent in the younger group (age 40). DiscussionDespite the limitation of the small sample size, the present study suggests that eveningness is associated with high Novelty Seeking/Harm Avoidance and low Self-Directedness in community-dwelling adults, and that this association may be related to age, gender, and other sociocultural factors.