Seasonal variation in self-reported arousal and subjective health complaints

Roger Persson; Kai Österberg; Anne Helene Garde; Åse Marie Hansen; Palle Ørbæk; Björn Karlson

doi:10.1080/13548506.2010.482140

Seasonal variation in self-reported arousal and subjective health complaints

Roger Persson, Kai Österberg, Anne Helene Garde, Åse Marie Hansen, Palle Ørbæk, Björn Karlson

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Many aspects of human physiology and behavior are seasonally related. Although there are many studies using self-ratings of, for example, subjective health and stress, few involve adjusting effects for seasonal differences. To estimate the need of adjusting for season in field studies, 24 healthy men and women were studied in a design that required them to fill in questionnaires on one workday every month, for 12 consecutive months. The results showed that ratings of stress were higher during winter and early spring, but only in the early afternoon and not in the morning or the evening. While some subjective health complaints were rated higher during winter, the ratings of energy and self-rated health did not vary throughout seasons. This concludes that seasonal variations may be a source of bias in questionnaire studies. Yet, further studies are needed to more definitely sort out which phenomena and self-rating measures that co-vary with season.

Original language	Danish
Journal	Psychology, Health & Medicine
Volume	15
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	434-444
Number of pages	11
ISSN	1354-8506
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2010.482140
Publication status	Published - Aug 2010

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10.1080/13548506.2010.482140

Cite this

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title = "Seasonal variation in self-reported arousal and subjective health complaints",

abstract = "Many aspects of human physiology and behavior are seasonally related. Although there are many studies using self-ratings of, for example, subjective health and stress, few involve adjusting effects for seasonal differences. To estimate the need of adjusting for season in field studies, 24 healthy men and women were studied in a design that required them to fill in questionnaires on one workday every month, for 12 consecutive months. The results showed that ratings of stress were higher during winter and early spring, but only in the early afternoon and not in the morning or the evening. While some subjective health complaints were rated higher during winter, the ratings of energy and self-rated health did not vary throughout seasons. This concludes that seasonal variations may be a source of bias in questionnaire studies. Yet, further studies are needed to more definitely sort out which phenomena and self-rating measures that co-vary with season.",

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AU - Persson, Roger

AU - Österberg, Kai

AU - Garde, Anne Helene

AU - Hansen, Åse Marie

AU - Ørbæk, Palle

AU - Karlson, Björn

PY - 2010/8

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AB - Many aspects of human physiology and behavior are seasonally related. Although there are many studies using self-ratings of, for example, subjective health and stress, few involve adjusting effects for seasonal differences. To estimate the need of adjusting for season in field studies, 24 healthy men and women were studied in a design that required them to fill in questionnaires on one workday every month, for 12 consecutive months. The results showed that ratings of stress were higher during winter and early spring, but only in the early afternoon and not in the morning or the evening. While some subjective health complaints were rated higher during winter, the ratings of energy and self-rated health did not vary throughout seasons. This concludes that seasonal variations may be a source of bias in questionnaire studies. Yet, further studies are needed to more definitely sort out which phenomena and self-rating measures that co-vary with season.

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