Morning affect, eveningness, and amplitude of diurnal variation: associations with parent adult-child relationships, and adult attachment style

Eveningness, as opposed to other chronotypes, in childhood and adolescence is associated with more parental conflicts, such as regarding bed and rising times, which might adversely influence future relationships with parents, and adult attachments. The current survey of 524 Chinese university students (mean = 20.05 and range 18–36 years of age) investigated whether eveningness shows these adverse associations. Morning affect and amplitude distinctness facets of circadian functioning were also assessed. It was found that eveningness is not related to adults’ perception of current parental relationships, or to adult attachment security, but low morning affect and stronger amplitude distinctness were associated with perception of more fatherly control, less regard for parents, and more attachment insecurity, and these were related to poorer wellbeing. These findings indicate that components of circadian functioning are related to the quality of adult relationships. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and establish explanatory mechanisms for these associations.