Early bird or night owl, a cross-sectional questionnaire investigating an association between chronotypes and perceived stress in year 3 & 4 ESO students.
Item
- Title
- Early bird or night owl, a cross-sectional questionnaire investigating an association between chronotypes and perceived stress in year 3 & 4 ESO students.
- Author(s)
- Hamer, I
- Abstract
- Background: Numerous factors can influence students’ stress. Previous research has found an association between chronotypes and stress. However, studies mostly investigated symptomatic samples suffering from physical or mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. Research on students’ chronotypes and perceived stress mainly focused on academic stress and performance. The relationship between chronotypes and perceived stress in osteopathy students has not been previously studied. Objective: To examine the existence of a potential association between year 3 and 4 ESO students’ chronotypes and perceived stress, and to determine which factors, including age, gender, physical activity, marital status, number of children, types of work shift and hours worked, physical activity intensity and BMI may participate in the association. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Method: 124 ESO students (60 in year 3, 64 in year 4) were invited to participate in the study. Demographic data was gathered; chronotypes and perceived stress were assessed through questionnaires. Relationships between baseline characteristics, chronotypes and perceived stress were analysed with Pearson’s Chi-squared test and Fisher’s exact test (p-value < 0.05; 5% significance; 95% confidence interval). Results: The response rate was 53.2%. A total of 62 answers were analysed. An association was found between students’ gender and perceived stress (p-value = 0.0045). The expected frequency showed that females had higher perceived stress levels than males. No association was found between other demographic characteristics, chronotypes and perceived stress. Discussion: The difference between females and males’ perceived stress levels could not be explained by the study. The study design and the small sample size have been identified as limitations. A longitudinal study and a larger sample size are therefore suggested for further studies. Future research should consider investigating for specific stressors to explain the difference between females and males’ levels of perceived stress. Conclusion: The study found no association between chronotypes and perceived stress levels in year 3 and 4 ESO students. More research is needed to understand the disparity between females and males’ perceived stress levels, which could help osteopathic schools to support their students to the best of their abilities.
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2020
- Date Submitted
- 28.10.2020 18:08:19
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 16662
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Chronotype, Osteopathy student, perceived stress, questionnaire
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Hamer, I, “Early bird or night owl, a cross-sectional questionnaire investigating an association between chronotypes and perceived stress in year 3 & 4 ESO students.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 1, 2025, https://www.osteopathic-research.com/s/orw/item/193