The relationship between depression and chronotype: A longitudinal assessment during childhood and adolescence

Background/objective During adolescence, chronotype shifts toward “eveningness.” “Eveningness” is related to negative physical and mental health outcomes. Little is known about what influences the shift in chronotype beyond pubertal status. The current study examined the influence of earlier depression predicting later individual differences in adolescent chronotype, accounting for pubertal status, and the prospective prediction of later increases in depression from earlier chronotype. Methods Youth (age M = 12.06, SD = 2.35; 56.5% girls) from the community completed repeated assessments of depression, including both self‐reports (14 assessments) and diagnostic interviews (eight assessments), over a 48‐month period. At the 36‐month timepoint, participants completed chronotype and pubertal development measures. Regression and ANOVA analyses examined: (1) the influence of earlier depression levels (baseline to 36 months) upon chronotype, and (2) chronotype (at 36 months) upon later depression (48 months). Results Youth with higher earlier depression symptoms (β = −0.347, P