ABSTRACT
Objective To develop the public mood scale and test its reliability and validity,and explore the components construct of the public mood.Methods 423 college students responded to the inventory.Correlation analysis,exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to the data analysis.Results Public mood scale was consisted of two dimensions,positive emotions and negative emotions.Factor analysis indicated that the two factors explain 61.3％ of the variance with factor loading ranging from 0.68 to 0.86;The Cronbach' s coefficients of positive and negative public mood were 0.81 and 0.76 respectively; Conffirmatory factor analysis indicated that the public mood scale had ideal structure validity.Joint factor analysis showed that public mood and personal mood were separated.Positive public mood had positive correlations with Big Five personalities,which were extraversion,agreeableness,responsibility and openness (r =0.22-0.33,P＜ 0.01),negative correlation was found between neuroticism and positive public mood(r=-0.25,P＜0.01).Positive public mood had significant positive correlation with government satisfaction,economic development confidence and social stability(r=0.34-0.45,P＜0.01),while they had significant negative correlations with negative public mood (r =-0.32--0.24,P＜ 0.01).Conclusion The public mood scale obtained in the present study has ideal validities and reliabilities and it is suitable to assess the public mood.