Chronotypes and college health behaviors: examining the roles of social support, stress, and perceived discrimination

Objective: Individuals with an evening chronotype face greater risk for adverse health outcomes. We examined whether social support, stress, and discrimination moderate the associations between chronotype, alcohol use, and depression/anxiety symptoms among college students. Participants: At a southeastern university in Fall 2017, 704 participants (mean age = 19.44 years; 71% female) completed measures on chronotype, alcohol use, depression/anxiety symptoms, social support, stress, and discrimination. Methods: Moderation analyses assessed stress and social support as joint moderators of alcohol use and depressive/anxiety symptoms, and discrimination as an independent moderator, controlling for covariates. Results: No significant interactions were found. However, main effects indicated that chronotype and psychosocial factors were independently linked to alcohol use and depressive/anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: Although moderation effects were not observed, these findings provide insight into how psychosocial factors may be related to chronotype and health outcomes among college students, highlighting future directions for chronotype research.