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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–6Cite as

Profile of Mood States

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Acronym

POMS

Definition

Mood may be defined as a short-term feeling state that may fluctuate within minutes to days. In contrast to emotions, moods are more transient, often unrelated to external events and have varying intensities (Berger and Motl 2000). Moods influence our overall sense of well-being, and impact both behavior patterns and perceived health (Berger and Motl 1998). The Profile of Mood States (POMS) is a 65 item self-report psychological instrument intended for use with adults age 18 and above. The POMS assesses short-term mood states which are understood to be transient and frequently fluctuating. While the original POMS (McNair et al. 1981) in both long and short forms is still widely used, the scale was revised in 2012 (Heuchert and McNair 2012). The revision of the scale (POMS 2-A), in addition to the 65 item adult version, featured the development of a 60 item adolescent version (POMS 2-Y) intended for youth 13–17 years of age as well as corresponding short forms...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, 49783, USA

    H Russell Searight & Kaitlyn Montone

Authors
  1. H Russell Searight
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  2. Kaitlyn Montone
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Correspondence to H Russell Searight .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA

    Brendan Clark

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Searight, H.R., Montone, K. (2017). Profile of Mood States. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_63-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_63-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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