Validity Of The Morningness-Eveningness
Questionnaire For Adolescents (MEQ-A)
Lorenzo Tonetti, M.S.
The present work aimed to validate the Italian version of the Morningness–Eveningness
Questionnaire for Adolescents (MEQ-A) using circadian motor activity as external
criterion. A sample of 60 healthy high school students (32 boys and 28 girls) wore an
actigraph (Actiwatch®) on the non-dominant wrist for seven consecutive nights and
days. After the recording session, all the subjects were administered the Italian version
of the MEQ-A. Results showed a significantly different circadian pattern of motor
activity between morning and evening types as expected. It has been underlined that
such differences were found only during week-end, when the school schedule was
stop and students were free to behave according to their own rhythms. On the whole
the results show that the MEQ-A has good external validity.
Keywords: adolescence, actigraph, circadian typology, morningness–eveningness
questionnaire, motor activity
Volume 9, Number 2, Year 2007
