Survey study, 1997
Do marked mood changes happen mainly before menstruation?
Marked mood changes happen just as often after menstruation as before, so cycle phase is not a good predictor of mood. Social relationships predict mood changes much better than cycle timing does.
What they did
101 working women tracked their mood and life circumstances over two consecutive menstrual cycles.
What they found
Although 40% of women thought they had PMS, none showed a clear recurring pattern of marked mood change before their period. Marked mood changes occurred as often in the postmenstrual phase as in the premenstrual phase. Social connection (feeling supported by relationships) predicted mood changes 10 times better than stress did.
What it means for you
Many women believe their mood changes are caused by their cycle, but these data show mood changes happen throughout the month. How supported women feel in their relationships matters much more for mood than the time of their cycle. The study only included employed women, so results may differ for students or other groups.
40%
women who thought they had PMS
10 times
how much more social connection predicted mood than stress
About the study
- Original title
- Prevalence and Predictors of Cyclic and Noncyclic Affective Change
- Authors
- Elizabeth A. Hardie
- Journal
- Psychology of Women Quarterly
- Year
- 1997
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 101
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00114.x
Original abstract
The prevalence of cyclic and week-to-week affective change was prospectively assessed over two consecutive menstrual cycles in a nonclinical sample of 101 employed women. Although 40% perceived themselves to have premenstrual syndrome (PMS), none showed a recurrent pattern of marked premenstrual affective change. Marked affective change was as likely to occur in the postmenstrual as the premenstrual phase. Weekly marked change was as prevalent as cyclic change. Although social health (perceived quantity and quality of interpersonal relationships) and subjective stress consistently predicted both cyclic and weekly affective states, the contribution of social health was 10 times greater than that of stress. The role of social health requires further examination, as does the widespread misuse of the PMS label to account for occasional changes in affect.
Reproduced under CC-BY.
Topics
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