Seasonal Variation in Mood in African American College Students in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The authors attempted to estimate the occurrence, frequency, and pattern (winter versus summer) of seasonal affective disorder in African American college students. They hypothesized that winter seasonal affective disorder would be more prevalent than summer seasonal affective disorder. METHOD: Undergraduate and graduate college students who identified themselves as African Americans living in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area were invited to participate in the study. The Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire was used to calculate a global seasonality score and to estimate the frequency of seasonal affective disorder and subsyndromal seasonal affective disorder. The frequency of the summer versus winter pattern of seasonality of seasonal affective disorder was compared by using multinomial probability distribution tests. The effects of gender and the awareness of seasonal affective disorder were evaluated with a two-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: Of 646 students who were invited to participate, 597 returned the questionnaires, and 537 (83.1%) fully completed them. Winter seasonal affective disorder was significantly more prevalent than summer seasonal affective disorder. The mean global seasonality score was 8.3 (SD=5.3). The majority of the subjects (80%) were not aware of the existence of seasonal affective disorder. CONCLUSIONS: The authors found that the frequency, magnitude, and pattern of seasonality of mood in African American students were similar to those previously reported in the general population at similar latitude, but that awareness of the existence of seasonal affective disorder, a condition with safe and effective treatment options, was lower.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Cross-cultural studies show that people who live closer to the equator and in warmer climates report higher levels of happiness and confidence, whereas people who live in darker and colder climates report more sadness and worrying behaviors.
“cross-cultural studies showing that people who live closer to the equator and in warmer climates - conditions that favor parasitic diversity report higher levels of happiness and confidence, whereas people who live in darker and colder climates report more sadness and worrying behaviors (Agumadu et al. 2004; de Graaf et al. 2005; Van de Vliert et al. 2004; Kovalenko et al. 2000; Okawa et al. 1996;”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Agumadu et al. 2004
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Fincher, C. L., & Thornhill, R. (2012) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x11000021 · Cited by 526 · see citing works
Condition-dependent adaptive phenotypic plasticity and interspecific gene-culture coevolution
Swartwout, P., Purzycki, B., & Sosis, R. (2012) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x11001075 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
A socio-relational framework of sex differences in the expression of emotion
Vigil, J. M. (2009) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x09991075 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
“For example, numerous cross-cultural studies have highlighted an association between living in northern latitudes and colder climates and greater reported sadness and worrying behaviors (Agumadu et al. 2004; de Graaf et al. 2005; Kovalenko et al. 2000; Okawa et al. 1996).”
BackgroundThe Diagnosis, Symptomatology, and Epidemiology of Seasonal Affective Disorder
Magnússon, A., & Partonen, T. (2005) · CNS Spectrums · doi:10.1017/s1092852900019593 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
de Graaf, R., van Dorsselaer, S., ten Have, M., Schoemaker, C., & Vollebergh, W. A. M. (2005) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwi264 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“We also wished to examine age effects; most studies have found a higher sensitivity for seasonal variation among younger people (2, 8, 10, 13, 17), but some have reported this for older people (19) or have not found any differences (7).”
Davis, C., & Levitan, R. (2005) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2005.03.006 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Circadian Phase Shifting, Alerting, and Antidepressant Effects of Bright Light Treatment
Postolache, T. T., & Oren, D. A. (2005) · Clinics in Sports Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.csm.2004.12.005 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“Whereas Chinese and Japanese tend to be relatively resilient to winter depression and more vulnerable to summer depression [87–89], African Americans [90], for instance, are likely to be as vulnerable to changes in seasons as the general population with Caucasian dominance.”
BackgroundSelf-citationMood-worsening with high-pollen-counts and seasonality: A preliminary report
Guzman, A., Tonelli, L. H., Roberts, D. W., Stiller, J. W., Jackson, M., Soriano, J. J., Yousufi, S. M., Rohan, K. J., Komarow, H. D., & Postolache, T. T. (2007) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.11.026 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“We analyzed data we previously collected for a larger study on seasonality in African American students (Agumadu et al., 2004).”
MethodSelf-citationMolnár, E., Lazáry, J., Benkő, A., Gonda, X., Pap, D., Mekli, K., Juhász, G., Kovacs, G., Kurimay, T., Rihmer, Z., et al. (2010) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2010.04.009 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Seasonality associated with the serotonin 2A receptor -1438 A/G polymorphism.
Lee, H.-J., Sung, S.-M., Lim, S.-W., Paik, J., & Kim, L. (2006) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.05.001 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“The fact that all subjects were medical students, who had prior knowledge of SAD, may also contribute to the high prevalence of SAD in our result; awareness of SAD, as a diagnosis, has been shown to be a significant factor in a previous study (Agumadu et al., 2004).”
ResultLee, H.-J., Sung, S.-M., Han, C.-S., Kim, Y.-K., Kim, S.-H., Lee, M.-S., Joe, S., Jung, I., & Kim, L. (2005) · Neuropsychobiology · doi:10.1159/000087559 · Cited by 18
“This high prevalence of SAD may be partially related with the younger age of our sample, because younger people are much more sensitive to seasonal changes than older people. The fact that all subjects were medical students who knew about SAD can explain the high prevalence, because subjects’ awareness of SAD can incr…”
BackgroundPaik, J., Lee, H., KANG, S., Lim, S., LEE, M., & Kim, L. (2007) · Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences · doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.2007.01621.x · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“The fact that all subjects were medical students who had prior knowledge of SAD can explain the high prevalence in the present study, because the effect of awareness of SAD was significant in the previous study.(11) In contrast to results of other east Asian studies,(12,13) the prevalence of winter-type SAD was higher…”
ResultBaek, J. H., Kim, J. S., Huh, I., Lee, K., Park, J. H., Park, T., Ha, K., & Hong, K. S. (2014) · Comprehensive Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.10.014 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“Not all, but several studies reported the effects of female gender and younger age on greater seasonality [15–18].”
BackgroundGuzmán, A., Rohan, K., Yousufi, S. M., Nguyễn, M.-C., Jackson, M. A., Soriano, J. J., & Postolache, T. (2007) · TheScientificWorldJournal · doi:10.1100/tsw.2007.114 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“S.[2] found similar rates of winter-type SAD among African American students as those previously reported for Caucasians in the same geographic region[1].”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationSeasonal Variations in Mood and Behavior in Romanian Postgraduate Students
Soriano, J. J., Ciupagea, C., Rohan, K., Neculai, D. B., Yousufi, S. M., Guzmán, A., & Postolache, T. (2007) · TheScientificWorldJournal · doi:10.1100/tsw.2007.127 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“The SPAQ has also been used with college students[38,39,49,50,51,52], with a high degree of test-retest reliability[50].”
MethodSelf-citationVolkov, J., Rohan, K. J., Yousufi, S. M., Nguyen, M.-C., Jackson, M. A., Thrower, C. M., Stiller, J. W., & Postolache, T. T. (2007) · The Scientific World JOURNAL · doi:10.1100/tsw.2007.128 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationSeasonality of blood neopterin levels in the Old Order Amish
Mohyuddin, H., Georgiou, P., Wadhawan, A., Daue, M., Brenner, L. A., Gragnoli, C., Saunders, E. F. H., Fuchs, D., Lowry, C. A., & Postolache, T. T. (2017) · Pteridines · doi:10.1515/pterid-2017-0020 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationLight treatment for seasonal Winter depression in African-American vs Caucasian outpatients
Uzoma, H. (2015) · World Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.5498/wjp.v5.i1.138 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationLight-therapy applications for DSM-IV-TR disease entities
Paíno, M., Fonseca‐Pedrero, E., Bousoño, M., & Giráldez, S. L. (2009) · The European Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4321/s0213-61632009000300005 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Agumadu, C. O., Yousufi, S. M., Malik, I. S., Nguyen, M.-C. T., Jackson, M. A., Soleymani, K., Thrower, C. M., Peterman, M. J., Walters, G. W., Niemtzoff, M. J., Bartko, J. J., & Postolache, T. T.
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2004-06-01
- Volume
- 161
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1084-1089
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- OpenAlex
- W2152670404
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2021: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 1.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Bipolar Disorder and Treatment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- seasonal affective disorder, African American college students, Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire, gender differences, Washington, D.C. metropolitan area
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Analysis of Variance, Black or African American, District of Columbia, Female, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Seasons, Sex Factors, Students, Urban Population, Prevalence, Seasonal Affective Disorder
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
