Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39031776›Full record

ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2025

Later ("evening") circadian preference is associated with poorer executive, academic, and attentional functioning in adolescents with and without ADHD.

Stephen P Becker, Aleah Brown, Joshua M Langberg, Dean W Beebe

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Stephen P BeckerDivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9046-5183
Aleah BrownSpelman College, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Joshua M LangbergGraduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
Dean W BeebeDivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Funding

A Multi-Method Investigation to Distinguish Sluggish Cognitive Tempo from ADHDK23MH108603 · NIMH · CINCINNATI CHILDRENS HOSP MED CTR · PI BECKER, STEPHEN P · 2015 to 2019
$675k
Institute of Education Sciences R305A160126NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH108603NIMH NIH HHS K23MH108603
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAdolescents vary considerably in their circadian phase preference; those with greater "eveningness" (also known as "night owls") have later bedtimes, wake times, and peak arousal compared to those with greater "morningness." Prior research suggests that (a) greater eveningness is associated with worse academic, executive, and attentional functioning; and (b) adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to be high in eveningness and to have deficits in these school-related constructs. However, few studies have examined circadian preference alongside two potential confounds-sleep duration and sleep quality-as predictors of daytime functioning, or whether the strength of associations differs across adolescents with and without ADHD.

methodsParticipants were 302 adolescents (M

resultsAbove and beyond sleep duration, sleep quality, and covariates (sex, family income, pubertal development, medication use), greater eveningness was uniquely associated with poorer academic, executive, and attentional functioning across most measures. Sleep quality was uniquely associated with a handful of outcomes, and sleep duration was not significantly uniquely associated with any outcome in the regression analyses. ADHD status did not moderate effects.

conclusionsThis study provides compelling evidence that poorer academic, executive, and attentional functioning are more closely associated with greater eveningness than with sleep duration or quality in adolescents. Findings suggest that targeting circadian preference may be important to reduce these problems in adolescents, especially in clinical samples such as ADHD for whom academic, executive, and attentional difficulties are exceptionally common.

Indexed as

AttentionAttention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityCircadian RhythmExecutive FunctionAdolescentChildFemaleHumansMaleSleep Qualityacademic performanceADHDadolescencechronotypecircadian preferenceexecutive function

Identifiers

PMID39031776
PMCPMC11652262

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.