Seasonality and personality: a prospective investigation of Five Factor Model correlates of mood seasonality

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore winter pattern seasonality of mood by investigating its Five Factor Model (FFM) correlates. The study was an advance on existing research in that seasonality was measured not as a retrospective self‐description of mood variation, but as a prospective pattern of current mood states in winter and summer (across two years). Based on contemporary theorizing about the structure and function of mood, Positive Affect (PA) was the mood construct selected for measurement. A seasonality score was calculated for each participant as the difference between summer mood levels and winter mood levels. The NEO‐FFI was administered at all four waves. Three hundred and three respondents from a random community sample in Melbourne, Australia, provided complete data. Regression analyses found that the adaptive trait Openness to Experience (O) was specifically associated with the tendency towards lowered mood in winter relative to summer. The vulnerability trait Neuroticism (N) was not a directional predictor of winter pattern seasonality, but was the sole predictor of absolute seasonality score. Findings are discussed in terms of two affective processes that may be involved in mood variation across the seasonal time frame: adaptive environmental sensitivity and endogenous mood variability. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.