Are achievement goals different among morning and evening-type adolescents?

• Association between chronotype and achievement goals was investigated.
• Learning and Performance Goals decreased during adolescence.
• Learning and Performance Goals were related to better grades.
• Morning-types showed higher Learning and Performance Goals.
• Achievement goals were more associated to grades in Evening-types.

The interest in the extent to which time-of-day preferences affect school performance is increasing. Apart from biological factors, Morning and Evening types differ in their lifestyle and personality traits which may have implications into diverse areas such as their motivation to learn. Taking into account available data, the aim of the present study was to investigate achievement goals which Morning-, Neither- and Evening-type adolescents accomplish at school. Participants were 342 students aged 12 to 15 (53.5% girls). Morning-types showed higher Learning and Performance Goals than Evening-types, and these goals were positively related to self-reported academic performance. Achievement goals were more associated to self-reported grades in Evening-types than in Neither- and Morning-types. It seems that encouraging pupils to achieve good results in order to advance in their studies may improve school performance, especially among Evening-types.