Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Jang, K. L.
• Lam, R. W.
• Livesley, W. J.
• Vernon, P. A.

Titel

The relationship between seasonal mood change and personality: more apparent than real?

Ist Teil von

• Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1997-06, Vol.95 (6), p.539-543

Ort / Verlag

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A number of recent research reports have reported significant relationships between seasonal mood change (seasonality) and personality. However, some of the results are difficult to interpret because of inherent methodological problems, the most important of which is the use of samples drawn from the southern as opposed to the northern hemisphere, where the phenomenon of seasonality may be quite different. The present study examined the relationship between personality and seasonality in a sample from the northern hemisphere (minimum latitude=49°N). A total of 297 adults drawn from the general population (112 male and 185 female subjects) completed the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire, and the results obtained confirmed most of the previously reported relationships and showed that these are reliable across (i) different hemispheres, (ii) different measures of personality and (iii) clinical and general population samples. However, the impact of the relationship seems to be more apparent than real, with personality accounting for just under 15% of the total variance.