158 ChapTER 5 Body Rhythms and Mental States
menstrual phases than they had reported in their
daily journals, showing that their retrospective
reports were influenced by their expectations and
their belief that PMS is a reliable, recurring set of
symptoms.
Other investigations have confirmed that
most women do not have typical PMS symp-
toms even when they firmly believe that they do
(Hardie, 1997; McFarlane & Williams, 1994). For
example, women often say they cry more premen-
strually than at other times, but an interesting
Dutch study had women keep “crying diaries” and
found no association at all between crying and
phase of the menstrual cycle (van Tilburg, Becht,
& Vingerhoets, 2003).
The important question is whether the phase
of the menstrual cycle a woman is in affects her
ability to work, think, study, do brain surgery,
run for office, or run a business. In the labora-
tory, some researchers have found that women
tend to be faster on tasks such as reciting words
quickly or sorting objects manually before and
after ovulation, when their estrogen is high (e.g.,
Saucier & Kimura, 1998). But empirical research
has failed to establish any connection between
phase of the menstrual cycle and work efficiency,purpose of the study (e.g., AuBuchon & Calhoun,
1985; Chrisler, 2000; Gallant et al., 1991; Hardie,
1997; Parlee, 1982; Rapkin, Chang, & Reading,
1988; Slade, 1984; Vila & Beech, 1980; Walker,
1994). Using double-blind procedures, they have
had women report symptoms for a single day and
have then gone back to see what phase of the men-
strual cycle the women were in; or they have had
women keep daily records over an extended period
of time. Some studies have also included a control
group that is usually excluded from research on
hormones and moods: men.
In one such study, men and women filled
out a symptom questionnaire that made no men-
tion of menstruation (Callaghan et al., 2009).
The proportion of men who met the criteria for
“premenstrual dysphoric disorder” (PMDD), a
presumably more extreme version of PMS, did
not differ significantly from the proportion of
women who met the criteria! In another study,
women and men rated their moods every day for
70 days, for what they thought was a straight-
forward study of mood and health (McFarlane,
Martin, & Williams, 1988). After the 70 days were
up, the women then recalled their average moods
for each week and phase of their menstrual cycle.
In their daily reports, women’s moods fluctu-
ated less over the menstrual cycle than over days
of the week. (Mondays, it seems, are tough for
most of us.) Moreover, women and men reported
similar emotional symptoms and number of mood
swings at any time of the month, as you can see
in Figure 5.1. But in their retrospective reports,
women recalled feeling angrier, more irritable,
and more depressed in the premenstrual andMenstrual phaseMenstrual OvulatoryPremenstrualMood pleasantness ratings765(^4) Women’s
retrospective
reports
Women’s
daily
reports
Men’s daily
reports
negative
neutral
positive
FIguRE 5.1 Mood Changes in Men and Women
In a study that challenged popular stereotypes about
PMS, college women and men recorded their moods daily
for 70 days without knowing the purpose of the study. At
the end of the study, the women thought their moods had
been more negative premenstrually than during the rest
of the month (purple line), but their daily diaries showed
otherwise (orange line). Both sexes experienced only
moderate mood changes, and there were no significant
differences between women and men at any time of the
month (McFarlane, Martin, & Williams, 1988).
“You’ve been charged with driving under
the influence of testosterone.”
For both sexes, the hormonal excuse rarely applies.
© The New Yorker Collection 1999 William Haefeli from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.