Cohort study, 1990
Do normal women actually experience worse mood before their period?
When women tracked their mood daily, they did not show a pattern of worsening before their period. But when asked to remember back, most reported experiencing premenstrual mood problems. This suggests memory bias rather than real mood changes.
What they did
51 women completed a daily mood questionnaire for 8 weeks without being told the study was about the menstrual cycle. Later, they were asked to remember if they had experienced premenstrual tension.
What they found
Daily mood tracking showed no increase in negative mood during the premenstrual or menstrual phases. However, the majority of women reported afterward that they had experienced premenstrual tension during the study period. Age and other menstrual variables showed no relationship to reported premenstrual tension.
What it means for you
We may believe we have premenstrual mood problems because we expect to have them, even if our actual moods do not change with our cycle. This is an important study showing that memory and expectations shape what we remember about our symptoms. This is a study of women without diagnosed PMS, so it does not apply to women with actual PMS symptoms.
51
Women studied
8 weeks
Duration of daily tracking
About the study
- Original title
- Premenstrual emotional changes a prospective study of symptomatology in normal women
- Authors
- Ainscough CE
- Journal
- Journal of psychosomatic research
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Cohort study
- What was tested
- None - daily mood tracking
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(90)90006-p
Topics
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