Sense of coherence, which encompasses one’s ability to adapt and cope with stressful life events, has been identified as significantly higher in individuals identified as “morning types.” In turn, research among students regarding chronotype, a typology for morningness-eveningness, has discovered a welldocumented relationship between morningness and higher student GPA.

However, little is known about the ways in which psychological factors related to morningness, such as sense of coherence, may contribute to this relationship between chronotype and GPA. In order to address this gap, a cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted to assess the role of sense of coherence in moderating the relationship between chronotype and GPA. A total of 158 Rowan University students completed an online survey to assess participants’ chronotype, sense of coherence, and self-reported GPA.

Pearson Correlations and Chi square analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between the aforementioned variables. Preliminary results indicate that there was a significant positive association between GPA and chronotype and chronotype and sense of coherence.

However, while not significantly associated, there was a negative relationship between GPA and sense of coherence. Chi square tests show no significant difference between chronotype and sense of coherence in our analyses. These results indicate that while students’ GPA was related to chronotype, it is not significantly influenced by sense of coherence. Further work is needed to identify other influences upon this relationship.

Authors: Helen Cardoso & Andrew Gerber