Mackenzie, Kirsten M. (2016) Age and Gender Differences in Mood Induction and Mood Congruence. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
A severely debilitating condition significantly affecting sufferers, families and society, depression is currently estimated to affect 400 million people of all ages worldwide. In older adults, depression has been described as the most common mental illness, the second greatest cause of disability and one of the most serious public health issues. As the population ages rapidly, the number of persons aged 60 years or over is expected to increase from 605 million to 2 billion by 2050. Obtaining a clear understanding of depression throughout the lifespan enables targeted development of treatments and therapies to prevent or reduce the impact depression has on individuals and society. The current study investigated relationships between mood, age, and gender in younger and older adults. A total of 130 volunteers aged between 18 and 88, from the University of Southern California (USC) Psychology Department and Alumni Association, agreed to participate in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to groups and induced into sad or neutral moods using a movie clip and music. Participants then completed cognitive tasks consisting of word lists and autobiographical memories and measured using the Depression Adjective Checklists (Lubin, 1981) and the Self-Assessment Manikin (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1995). Mood induction was assessed using repeated measures mixed-design ANOVAs. Results indicated mood induction was successful with significant changes in mood observed after mood induction in younger and older adults. Significant interaction effects were revealed for Time x Age x Mood with young adults displaying higher mood scores over time, and Time x Gender x Mood with females displaying higher mood scores and more change in the sad mood condition over time. The word lists and autobiographical tasks were assessed using factorial ANOVA analyses and chi-square analyses, respectively. No mood congruence effects were found, which is surprising considering the previous literature, however, this is likely due to limitations within the study which are detailed in the discussion.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Bob Knight |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Aug 2025 01:42 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Aug 2025 01:42 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | depression ; lifespan ; gender ; mood induction ; mood congruence |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52521 |
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