The main subject of the present study was to determine the relative contributions of personality traits and affective self-regulation strategies in the explanation of total mood variance. Mood factors and affective self-regulation factors were defined. Secondly, the relationship between mood factors and affective self-regulation factors was analyzed, as were their relations to personality traits. It was found that there was a significant negative correlation of neuroticism and a positive correlation of extraversion with positive moods, as well as a positive correlation of neuroticism and negative correlation of extraversion with negative moods. The results have also shown the tendency that negative moods are generally more related to the ineffective strategies of affective self-regulation, and positive moods with effective strategies. Personality traits, in comparison with affective self-regulation strategies, have shown to be incomparably better predictors of all mood factors. It was concluded that the results of the conducted research are mostly in favour of those authors representing the dispositional (structural) approach to explaining the role of personality traits in the prediction of an individual’s moods.

moods, mood regulation, Eysenck, personality traits