Sleep QualitySCPADNCT07697092
Sleep, Chronotype, and Prosocial Allocation Decisions
An observational study of Sleep Quality and Chronotype, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University at 2 sites in Hong Kong.
Trial summary
This observational behavioural study examines whether individual differences in sleep quality, sleep timing, and chronotype are associated with prosocial allocation decisions in adults. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Sleep Quality, Chronotype, Prosocial Decision-Making
- What is being tested?
- Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation Assessment
- How many people
- 128 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesHong Kong
- Study dates
- 1 Jul 2026to 30 Jun 2028
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: Adults aged 18 years or above will be recruited as healthy volunteers from university and community settings. Eligible participants may include university students, university staff, and community adults who can understand English or Chinese study materials and complete computer-based behavioural tasks, sleep-related questionnaires, and a 7-day sleep diary. The study is not limited to PolyU students and is not designed to recruit participants with any specific sleep disorder, mental health condition, or clinical diagnosis.
Who may be able to join
- Aged 18 years or above.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Able to understand English or Chinese study materials.
- Able to complete computer-based behavioural tasks and self-report questionnaires.
- Willing to complete a 7-day sleep diary.
Who cannot join
- Aged under 18 years.
- Unable to provide informed consent.
- Unable to complete study materials in English or Chinese.
- Prior participation in the same study.
- Self-reported condition or circumstance that would make participation in a brief computer-based decision-making task or sleep-related questionnaires inappropriate or distressing.
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Hong Kong2 sites, 2 recruiting
- Not yet recruiting
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Cehao Yu, PhD, +852 3400 3012, cehao.yu@polyu.edu.hk
Junkai Che, Master, +852 9783 8643, junkai.che@connect.polyu.hk
- Recruiting
Child Development Centre
Kowloon, Hung Hom
Cehao Yu, PhD, 34003012, cehao.yu@polyu.edu.hk
Cehao Yu, PhD
About this study
Official title: Associations Between Sleep Quality, Circadian Timing, and Prosocial Allocation Decisions in Adults
This observational behavioural study examines whether individual differences in sleep quality, sleep timing, and chronotype are associated with prosocial allocation decisions in adults. Participants will complete self-report sleep and circadian questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, a 7-day sleep diary, and a brief computer-based Dictator Game allocation task.
The study does not involve sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, treatment, clinical diagnosis, medication, or medical devices. Participants will not be asked to change their sleep schedule. The Dictator Game decisions are hypothetical and do not affect participants' compensation. The study is intended to describe associations between naturally occurring sleep-related individual differences and behavioural allocation choices, not to diagnose or treat sleep or mental health conditions.
Read the detailed description
This is a non-clinical observational behavioural study of adults aged 18 years or above. The study investigates whether naturally occurring differences in subjective sleep quality, sleep timing, and circadian preference are associated with prosocial decision-making in a computer-based allocation task.
Participants will first provide informed consent and will be assigned a participant code so that research data can be pseudonymised. They will complete demographic questions and sleep-related self-report measures. These measures include the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which assesses subjective sleep quality over the previous month, and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, which assesses sleep timing on workdays and free days and provides chronotype-related variables. Participants will also complete a 7-day sleep diary recording daily sleep-related information such as bedtime, estimated sleep onset, wake time, rise time, naps, subjective sleep quality, and schedule-related information.
Prosocial allocation behaviour will be assessed using a brief computer-based Dictator Game task. In this task, participants make hypothetical allocation choices involving distributions of money between themselves and another party. No deception cover story will be used. Participants will not be falsely told that they are interacting with a real paired participant if no real allocation exists. Dictator Game choices are hypothetical and do not affect actual compensation.
The primary aim is to examine associations between sleep quality, sleep timing, chronotype-related measures, and prosocial allocation behaviour. Secondary analyses may explore whether 7-day sleep diary measures provide additional information beyond retrospective questionnaire measures. Exploratory analyses may examine whether chronotype, sleep timing, or time of day moderates associations between sleep-related measures and Dictator Game behaviour. These analyses will be interpreted cautiously and will not be used to make clinical claims.
The study is not designed to diagnose, treat, or induce any sleep disorder, mental health condition, or other clinical condition. The PSQI, MCTQ, and sleep diary are used as non-diagnostic research measures. No clinical diagnosis, treatment recommendation, or personalised sleep advice will be provided. The expected risks are minimal and may include mild boredom or tiredness, mild discomfort when reflecting on sleep habits or making self-other allocation decisions, minor inconvenience from completing the 7-day diary, and privacy concerns about sleep schedule information. Risk will be minimised through informed consent, voluntary participation, the right to withdraw, non-clinical wording, pseudonymisation, separate storage of identifiable records, and restricted access to research data.
- Conditions
- Sleep Quality, Chronotype, Prosocial Decision-Making, Circadian Timing
- Being tested
- Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation Assessment
- Keywords
- Sleep Quality, Chronotype, Circadian Timing, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, Sleep Diary, Dictator Game, Prosocial Behavior, Prosocial Decision-Making, Allocation Decisions
- Medical subject headings
- Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Altruism
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation AssessmentOther
Participants complete non-diagnostic sleep and circadian self-report measures, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, and a 7-day sleep diary, followed by a brief computer-based Dictator Game allocation task. This is an observational assessment procedure only. Participants are not assigned to a treatment, sleep manipulation, sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, or behaviour-change intervention.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Participants | Adults aged 18 years or above who provide informed consent and complete sleep-related self-report measures, a 7-day sleep diary, and a computer-based prosocial allocation task. Participants are not assigned to any sleep manipulation, treatment, or intervention. Sleep quality, sleep timing, chronotype, and prosocial allocation behaviour are measured as naturally occurring individual differences. Receives: Other: Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation Assessment |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Dictator Game Prosocial Allocation Score
Prosocial allocation behaviour will be measured using a brief computer-based Dictator Game task. The primary behavioural score will be the number or proportion of trials in which the participant selects the more prosocial allocation option across the task, with higher scores indicating more prosocial allocation choices.
Measured: Day 1 (single study session)
Secondary outcomes (3)
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Global Score
Subjective sleep quality over the previous month will be assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The PSQI global score is calculated according to standard scoring procedures and ranges from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating poorer subjective sleep quality. The PSQI is used as a non-diagnostic research measure.
Measured: Day 1 (single study session)
Chronotype (Sleep-Corrected Mid-Sleep on Free Days, MSFsc) From the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire
Circadian preference (chronotype) will be assessed using the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ). The chronotype variable reported is the sleep-corrected mid-sleep time on free days (MSFsc), expressed as clock time in decimal hours, with later values indicating a later (more evening) chronotype. The MCTQ is used as a non-diagnostic research measure.
Measured: Day 1 (single study session)
Mean Sleep Duration From the 7-Day Sleep Diary
Nightly sleep duration will be recorded in a 7-day sleep diary and averaged across the diary days to yield mean sleep duration, reported in hours per night.
Measured: Daily for the 7 days before the study session (Days -7 to -1)
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 Jul 2026
- Study start1 Jul 2026
- Primary completion30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (6)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Sleep QualityStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 128 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Dr YU Cehao, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07697092
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HSEARS20260629007
- Acronym
- SCPAD
- Status last verified
- Jun 2026
- First submitted
- 30 Jun 2026
- Last updated
- 17 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: Individual participant data will not be shared outside the approved research team. Study findings will be reported in aggregate form only. Pseudonymised or anonymised data may be retained for future ethically approved research only if permitted by participant consent and institutional ethics approval.
Publications
Brocklebank, S., Lewis, G. J., & Bates, T. C. (2011). Personality accounts for stable preferences and expectations across a range of simple games. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 881-886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.007
Forsythe, R., Horowitz, J. L., Savin, N. E., & Sefton, M. (1994). Fairness in simple bargaining experiments. Games and Economic Behavior, 6(3), 347-369. https://doi.org/10.1006/game.1994.1021
Ben Simon E, Vallat R, Rossi A, Walker MP. Sleep loss leads to the withdrawal of human helping across individuals, groups, and large-scale societies. PLoS Biol. 2022 Aug 23;20(8):e3001733. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001733. eCollection 2022 Aug.
PubMed 35998121Carney CE, Buysse DJ, Ancoli-Israel S, Edinger JD, Krystal AD, Lichstein KL, Morin CM. The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep. 2012 Feb 1;35(2):287-302. doi: 10.5665/sleep.1642.
PubMed 22294820Roenneberg T, Wirz-Justice A, Merrow M. Life between clocks: daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes. J Biol Rhythms. 2003 Feb;18(1):80-90. doi: 10.1177/0748730402239679.
PubMed 12568247Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF 3rd, Monk TH, Berman SR, Kupfer DJ. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: a new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res. 1989 May;28(2):193-213. doi: 10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4.
PubMed 2748771
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 17 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Associations Between Sleep Quality, Circadian Timing, and Prosocial Allocation Decisions in Adults
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07697092
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- SCPAD / HSEARS20260629007
- Conditions
- Sleep Quality, Chronotype, Prosocial Decision-Making, Circadian Timing
- Keywords
- Sleep Quality, Chronotype, Circadian Timing, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, Sleep Diary, Dictator Game, Prosocial Behavior
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 128 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Jul 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 30 Jun 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 13 Jul 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This observational behavioural study examines whether individual differences in sleep quality, sleep timing, and chronotype are associated with prosocial allocation decisions in adults. Participants will complete self-report sleep and circadian questionnaires, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, a 7-day sleep diary, and a brief computer-based Dictator Game allocation task.
The study does not involve sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, treatment, clinical diagnosis, medication, or medical devices. Participants will not be asked to change their sleep schedule. The Dictator Game decisions are hypothetical and do not affect participants' compensation. The study is intended to describe associations between naturally occurring sleep-related individual differences and behavioural allocation choices, not to diagnose or treat sleep or mental health conditions.
Detailed description
This is a non-clinical observational behavioural study of adults aged 18 years or above. The study investigates whether naturally occurring differences in subjective sleep quality, sleep timing, and circadian preference are associated with prosocial decision-making in a computer-based allocation task.
Participants will first provide informed consent and will be assigned a participant code so that research data can be pseudonymised. They will complete demographic questions and sleep-related self-report measures. These measures include the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which assesses subjective sleep quality over the previous month, and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, which assesses sleep timing on workdays and free days and provides chronotype-related variables. Participants will also complete a 7-day sleep diary recording daily sleep-related information such as bedtime, estimated sleep onset, wake time, rise time, naps, subjective sleep quality, and schedule-related information.
Prosocial allocation behaviour will be assessed using a brief computer-based Dictator Game task. In this task, participants make hypothetical allocation choices involving distributions of money between themselves and another party. No deception cover story will be used. Participants will not be falsely told that they are interacting with a real paired participant if no real allocation exists. Dictator Game choices are hypothetical and do not affect actual compensation.
The primary aim is to examine associations between sleep quality, sleep timing, chronotype-related measures, and prosocial allocation behaviour. Secondary analyses may explore whether 7-day sleep diary measures provide additional information beyond retrospective questionnaire measures. Exploratory analyses may examine whether chronotype, sleep timing, or time of day moderates associations between sleep-related measures and Dictator Game behaviour. These analyses will be interpreted cautiously and will not be used to make clinical claims.
The study is not designed to diagnose, treat, or induce any sleep disorder, mental health condition, or other clinical condition. The PSQI, MCTQ, and sleep diary are used as non-diagnostic research measures. No clinical diagnosis, treatment recommendation, or personalised sleep advice will be provided. The expected risks are minimal and may include mild boredom or tiredness, mild discomfort when reflecting on sleep habits or making self-other allocation decisions, minor inconvenience from completing the 7-day diary, and privacy concerns about sleep schedule information. Risk will be minimised through informed consent, voluntary participation, the right to withdraw, non-clinical wording, pseudonymisation, separate storage of identifiable records, and restricted access to research data.
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Participants | – | Other: Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation AssessmentAdults aged 18 years or above who provide informed consent and complete sleep-related self-report measures, a 7-day sleep diary, and a computer-based prosocial allocation task. Participants are not assigned to any sleep manipulation, treatment, or intervention. Sleep quality, sleep timing, chronotype, and prosocial allocation behaviour are measured as naturally occurring individual differences. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- Adults aged 18 years or above will be recruited as healthy volunteers from university and community settings. Eligible participants may include university students, university staff, and community adults who can understand English or Chinese study materials and complete computer-based behavioural tasks, sleep-related questionnaires, and a 7-day sleep diary. The study is not limited to PolyU students and is not designed to recruit participants with any specific sleep disorder, mental health condition, or clinical diagnosis.
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Aged 18 years or above.
- Able to provide informed consent.
- Able to understand English or Chinese study materials.
- Able to complete computer-based behavioural tasks and self-report questionnaires.
- Willing to complete a 7-day sleep diary.
Key exclusion criteria (5 listed)
- Aged under 18 years.
- Unable to provide informed consent.
- Unable to complete study materials in English or Chinese.
- Prior participation in the same study.
- Self-reported condition or circumstance that would make participation in a brief computer-based decision-making task or sleep-related questionnaires inappropriate or distressing.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep, Circadian, and Prosocial Allocation AssessmentParticipants complete non-diagnostic sleep and circadian self-report measures, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire, and a 7-day sleep diary, followed by a brief computer-based Dictator Game allocation task. This is an observational assessment procedure only. Participants are not assigned to a treatment, sleep manipulation, sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, or behaviour-change intervention. | Other | Adult Participants |
Primary outcome
Dictator Game Prosocial Allocation Score
Time frame: Day 1 (single study session)
Prosocial allocation behaviour will be measured using a brief computer-based Dictator Game task. The primary behavioural score will be the number or proportion of trials in which the participant selects the more prosocial allocation option across the task, with higher scores indicating more prosocial allocation choices.
3 secondary outcomes
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Global Score
Time frame: Day 1 (single study session)
Chronotype (Sleep-Corrected Mid-Sleep on Free Days, MSFsc) From the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire
Time frame: Day 1 (single study session)
Mean Sleep Duration From the 7-Day Sleep Diary
Time frame: Daily for the 7 days before the study session (Days -7 to -1)
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 17 Sep 2026.
- BackgroundBrocklebank, S., Lewis, G. J., & Bates, T. C. (2011). Personality accounts for stable preferences and expectations across a range of simple games. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 881-886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.007
- BackgroundForsythe, R., Horowitz, J. L., Savin, N. E., & Sefton, M. (1994). Fairness in simple bargaining experiments. Games and Economic Behavior, 6(3), 347-369. https://doi.org/10.1006/game.1994.1021
- Background: PubMed 35998121Ben Simon E, Vallat R, Rossi A, Walker MP. Sleep loss leads to the withdrawal of human helping across individuals, groups, and large-scale societies. PLoS Biol. 2022 Aug 23;20(8):e3001733. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001733. eCollection 2022 Aug.
- Background: PubMed 22294820Carney CE, Buysse DJ, Ancoli-Israel S, Edinger JD, Krystal AD, Lichstein KL, Morin CM. The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep. 2012 Feb 1;35(2):287-302. doi: 10.5665/sleep.1642.
- Background: PubMed 12568247Roenneberg T, Wirz-Justice A, Merrow M. Life between clocks: daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes. J Biol Rhythms. 2003 Feb;18(1):80-90. doi: 10.1177/0748730402239679.
- Background: PubMed 2748771Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF 3rd, Monk TH, Berman SR, Kupfer DJ. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: a new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res. 1989 May;28(2):193-213. doi: 10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. Individual participant data will not be shared outside the approved research team. Study findings will be reported in aggregate form only. Pseudonymised or anonymised data may be retained for future ethically approved research only if permitted by participant consent and institutional ethics approval.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
2 sites in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Sleep Quality and Chronotype, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University at 2 sites in Hong Kong.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 17 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 2 sites in Hong Kong. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Cehao Yu, PhD (+852 3400 3012, cehao.yu@polyu.edu.hk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Dictator Game Prosocial Allocation Score (time frame: Day 1 (single study session)). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07697092, which also lists 6 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 17 Sep 2026.