Sleep timing is linked to sociosexuality: Evidence from German, Polish, Slovak, and Spanish females

Abstract

Given the known relationship between eveningness and sociosexuality among females, the aims of this study were: (a) to analyze this relationship in four countries using midsleep time on free days and morning affect measures of morningness–eveningness and (b) to test the role of dark personality and other relevant control variables in this relationship. Data from 1483 females were collected from Poland, Spain, Germany, and Slovakia. Adjusting for age, relationship status, country, age at first intercourse, and Dark Triad traits, the most universal findings were that females with later sleep timing were less sociosexually restricted (3% shared variance with sociosexuality). Sleep timing played a greater role in sociosexuality compared to morning affect. This finding showed that Dark Triad personality is not involved in association between morningness–eveningness and sociosexuality and it added a value to the importance of sleep–wake habits in mating preferences.

COVID-19 Pandemic on Fire: Evolved Propensities for Nocturnal Activities as a Liability Against Epidemiological Control

“…This adaptive challenge, among others, could have selected for evening-oriented individuals to be more willing to engage in activities that go against social desirability, such as promiscuity, aggression, rule-breaking behavior, self-interested remorseless, and interpersonal manipulation. In effect, evening-oriented individuals are more prone to casual sex, cross-culturally ( Cross, 2010 ; Piffer, 2010 ; Ponzi et al, 2015b ; Matchock, 2018 ; Díaz-Morales et al, 2019 ), have a faster life history strategy ( Ponzi et al, 2015b ; Marvel-Coen et al, 2018 ), have first intercourse at an earlier age ( Kasaeian et al, 2019 ), have higher tendencies toward aggression ( Schlarb et al, 2014 ), exhibit higher rule-breaking behavior ( Merikanto et al, 2017 ), and have higher Dark Triad personality traits, that is, Machiavellianism (e.g., exploitative behaviors), narcissism (e.g., self-orientation), and subclinical psychopathy (e.g., lack of empathy and remorse) ( Jonason et al, 2013 ). Men, the more nocturnal sex ( Piffer, 2010 ; Fischer et al, 2017 ), also exhibit higher propensity to casual sex ( Schmitt, 2005 ; Hughes et al, 2020 ), higher aggression ( Archer, 2004 , 2019 ; Cross, 2010 ), and higher Dark Triad personality traits ( Furnham et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Besides the connection between each aspect of the nocturnal profile with mating success, promiscuity, and fast life history, these traits are also directly related to the evening-orientation, as we have established in the previous section ( Ponzi et al, 2015b ; Marvel-Coen et al, 2018 ). Evening-oriented individuals cross-culturally exhibit higher tendencies for short-term mating and, indeed, have more casual sex ( Cross, 2010 ; Piffer, 2010 ; Gunawardane et al, 2011 ; Ponzi et al, 2015b ; Matchock, 2018 ; Díaz-Morales et al, 2019 ). Evening-type men are more flirtatious in the later part of the day ( Gunawardane et al, 2011 ), have a higher propensity to stay out late ( Randler et al, 2012b ), and have higher intrasexual competition tendencies ( Ponzi et al, 2015a ).…”

“… Dezecache et al, 2020 ; Hwang et al, 2020 ), advantageous for survival, but at the same time disadvantageous for short-term mate search because it decreased their nocturnal activities (e.g., bars, discos, and nightclubs) (cf. Mannion et al, 2009 ; Ponzi et al, 2015b ; Díaz-Morales et al, 2019 ). These conflicting domains of adaptive problems comprise an adaptive metaproblem ( Al-Shawaf, 2016 ; Rantala et al, 2019 ).…”

“…This is because of the previously described mismatches (#1 and #2), and because the core message of the pandemic public health guidance virus-mitigating rules (i.e., focus on survival and refraining from social contact; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020 ; World Health Organization, 2020 ) clashes with the eveningness profile (cf. Fabbian et al, 2016 ), which is related to exhibiting paranoia ( Sheaves et al, 2016 ) (paranoia is positively related to conspiracy beliefs, Darwin et al, 2011 ; Imhoff and Lamberty, 2018 ), risk-taking ( Ponzi et al, 2014 ), sensation-seeking and impulsivity ( Russo et al, 2012 ; Antúnez et al, 2014 ), extraversion ( Lipnevich et al, 2017 ), unrestrained hedonism (e.g., Millar et al, 2019 ), low self-control ( Digdon and Howell, 2008 ), present orientation (e.g., Borisenkov et al, 2019 ), alcohol, cigarettes, and substance use in public places together with others ( Patterson et al, 2016 ; Millar et al, 2019 ), multiple short-term mating tendencies (e.g., Díaz-Morales et al, 2019 ), fast life history (e.g., Marvel-Coen et al, 2018 ), rule-breaking tendencies ( Merikanto et al, 2017 ), and self-centered remorseless exploitation of others ( Jonason et al, 2013 ), thus trading survival and health-concern for prioritizing sensation-seeking and mating opportunities. During the current pandemic, on average, the evening-oriented profile might put the population at risk by engaging in acts, exhibiting attitudes, and creating contexts that promote and sustain human-to-human contagion.…”

“…Nocturnal individuals (i.e., those with a chronotype higher on eveningness, night-owls; Byrnes et al, 1999 ) tend to be more risk-taking, extraverted, impulsive, promiscuous, and have more pronounced Dark Triad personality profiles (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism) (cf. Digdon and Howell, 2008 ; Russo et al, 2012 ; Jonason et al, 2013 ; Fabbian et al, 2016 ; Sheaves et al, 2016 ; Díaz-Morales et al, 2019 ). Although evening-oriented individuals are also more intelligent (e.g., Randler, 2017 ), more capable of perceiving and understanding emotion ( Stolarski and Jankowski, 2015 ), open to experience ( Randler et al, 2017 ), and visually creative ( Giampietro and Cavallera, 2007 ) than morning-oriented individuals, a great portion of their profile aligns with the profile(s) so far found in individuals known to be likely to break COVID-19 pro-health rules.…”