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Seasonal Changes in Affective State Measured Prospectively and Retrospectively

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Kausar Nayyar  and
Raymond Cochrane
Kausar Nayyar
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham
Raymond Cochrane*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham
*
Professor Raymond Cochrane, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
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Abstract

Background

The study was designed to investigate whether seasonal mood and behavioural changes are detectable prospectively in a non-clinical population in the way they have been reported in retrospective studies. The specificity of any seasonal fluctuation in affective state was also investigated by measuring anxiety as well as depression.

Method

To measure seasonal fluctuations in affect and behaviour prospectively, 25 women were interviewed every month for one year using four scales (depression, anxiety, stress, and behavioural change). Retrospective accounts of mood and behaviour at the end of the year were collected with the Seasonal Pattern and Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ).

Results

Seasonal depression peaked in winter as did atypical behaviour when measured either prospectively or retrospectively, but the difference between winter and summer was much more pronounced in the retrospective data. No seasonal effect was found for anxiety or psychosocial stressors.

Conclusions

The results obtained by retrospective techniques have limited reliability. In future, more prospective studies with unbiased, standardised instruments are recommended to measure seasonal variations in affect and behaviour.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 168 , Issue 5 , May 1996 , pp. 627 - 632
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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