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Sleep Related Questionnaires

HomeMembersAssemblies and SectionsAssembliesSleep and Respiratory NeurobiologySleep Related Questionnaires ▶ Morningness -Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)
Morningness -Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)

Name of questionnaire Morningness -Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)
Type of questionnaire-description Self-reported assessment of morningness and eveningness preferences. Questions are framed in a preferential manner, where the respondent is asked to indicate when, for example, he/she would prefer to wake up or start sleep, rather than when he/she actually does.  
Number of items 19
Number of domains/categories Not applicable
Name of categories/domains   Not applicable
Scaling of items Multiple choice, 4-5 point numerical scale.  The sum gives a score ranging from 16 to 86; scores of 41 and below indicate "evening types", scores of 59 and above indicate "morning types", scores between 42-58 indicate "intermediate types".
Scoring available: with permission or free Freely available
Scoring test-retest reliability Not evaluated on the original version. 

Slovene MEQ test-retest reliability was high

Scoring Internal consistency

Internal consistency very good in a New Zealand version, Cronbach α coefficient=0.83

Internal consistency of the Slovene MEQ items was high, with Cronbach's Alpha coefficients = 0.86

Validity

Original study in student population (18-32 years). Validated with oral temperature curves. Morning types had a significantly earlier peak time in the circadian peak than Evening types and tended to have a higher daytime temperature and lower post peak temperature. When re-examined, original criteria of Horne and Ostberg (1976) studies showed different validity in different populations. In a validation study in a sample of middle-aged workers- (non-students): evening types were considered as scoring under 53 and morning types above 64, thus giving 28.1% morning type, 51.7% neither type, and 20.2% evening type.

In 14 studies that used the MEQ in individuals without a diagnosis of circadian rhythm disorder and used objective circadian phase marker testing (e.g., core body temperature, DLMO), all studies found that subjects with a later circadian phase generally scored lower on the MEQ.  Pearson’s correlation coefficients ranged widely from -0.353 to -0.760 in studies, possibly due to differences in study populations and study conditions.  [4]

Language English Some stem questions and item choices have been rephrased from the original instrument (Horne and Östberg, 1976) to conform with spoken American English
Translations in other languages (if yes, then list the languages) Multiple: including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Slovene, Nepali
Developer name Horne JA and Ostberg O 
Developer contact information jim.horne@sleepresearch.co.uk
Availability of questionnaire: needs permission from developer, cost or freely available Freely available for non-profit use
Link to the questionnaire (if available) Original publication (1)
Limitations Questionaires assumes all individuals are on regular diurnal schedules
Other comments

May consider using alternative modified versions if population does not have regular diurnal schedules, example: Preferences Scale, Munich ChronoType Questionnaire.

Reduced versions of the MEQ have been reported in some studies (e.g., Hungarian, Spanish, Polish, German  versions), with 4-6 questions, with modest correlation with the unabridged version.

Acknowledge source for publication.

References
  1. Horne JA, Östberg O. (1976). A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms". Int J Chronobiol 4 (2): 97–110.
  2. Taillard J, et al. (2004). "Validation of Horne and Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire in a Middle-Aged Population of French Workers". Journal of Biological Rhythms 19 (1): 76–86.
  3. Paine SJ, Gander PH, Travier N.(2006) The Epidemiology of Morningness/Eveningness: Influence of Age, Gender, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Factors in Adults (30-49 Years). J Biol Rhythms  21: 68-76.
  4. Sack R, et al. (2007) Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders: Part I, Basic Principles, Shift Work and Jet Lag Disorders.  Sleep 30(11): 1460-1483.
  5. Cavallera GM, Boari G.  (2015) Validation of the Italian Version of the Morningness-EveningnessQuestionnaire for Adolescents by A. Lancry and Th. Arbault.  Med Sci Monit  21: 2685-93.
  6. Zacharia T, et al. (2014) Development and standardization of Morningess-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) in the Indian language Kannada.  Int Tinnitus J 19(1): 36-40.
  7. Lee JH, et al. (2014) Reliability and valididty of the Korean version of Morningess-Eveningness Questionnaire in adults aged 20-39 years.  Chronobiol Int 31(4): 479-86.
  8. Diaz-Morales JF , et al.  (2007)  Validity of the Morningess-Eveningness Scale for Children among Spanish adolescents.  Chronobiol Int. 24(3): 435-47.
  9. Treven Pišljar N, Štukovnik V, Zager Kocjan G, Dolenc-Groselj L. Validity and reliability of the Slovene version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Chronobiol Int. 2019 Oct;36(10):1409-1417. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2019.1651326. Epub 2019 Aug 12. PMID: 31401882.
  10. Sajana Aryal, Biraj Bhattarai & Prashanth Prabhu (2022) Development and standardization of Morningness- Eveningness questionnaire (MEQ) in the Nepali language, Biological Rhythm Research, 53:11, 1692-1701.
Updated by

Mohammed Alzoubaidi, MD

The last date of update  November 2022