This is Your Portfolio on Winter: Seasonal Affective Disorder and Risk Aversion in Financial Decision Making

© The Author(s) 2012This study found that people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) displayed financial risk aversion that varied across the seasons as a function of seasonally changing affect. The SAD-sufferers had significantly stronger preferences for safe choices during the winter than non-SAD-sufferers, and they did not differ from non-SAD-sufferers during the summer. The effect of SAD on risk aversion in the winter was mediated by depression.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project received generous financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation