the relationship between morning-evening types and mental health using a canonical correlation analysis

Background and objective: the optimal method of predicting mental health is the investigation of individual differences, such as identification of morning-evening types. the present study examined the relationship between components of morning-evening types, using the four components of mental health, in a group of students. materials and methods: the population of this descriptive cross-sectional study was all undergraduate students at the university of bojnord, bojnord, iran. the participants (n = 341) were selected from this population via stratified random sampling, and they were evaluated using the composite scale of morningness (csm) and the general health questionnaire-28 (ghq-28). to analyze the data, the pearson correlation coefficient and canonical correlation analysis (cca) were applied. results: the canonical redundancy analysis showed that the first canonical function was statistically significant (r² = 0.205, p < 0.0001). the canonical weights showed that the order of contribution of independent variables to the first variate was morning affect (-0.921) and activity planning (-0.162), and the order of contribution of dependent variables was anxiety/insomnia (0.488), severe depression (0.350), somatic symptoms (0.198), and social dysfunction (0.179). conclusion: this study showed the importance of morning-evening types as the predictor of mental health and its dimensions. therefore, it is recommended that the morningness-eveningness preferences of people be considered in clinical interviews and diagnosis.