EFFECTS OF MENSTRUAL-CYCLE PHASE ON AGGRESSION MEASURED IN THE LABORATORY

This study investigated the effects of menstrual cycle phase on aggres sion in two groups of women, which differed in the severity of their s elf-reported perimenstrual symptoms, A low-and a high-symptom group we re recruited using the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) to defin e the groups, Twenty-two subjects (11 low and 11 high symptom) partici pated across one menstrual cycle: during the premenstrual, menstrual, midfollicular, and ovulatory phases. The Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm was used to assess aggression on each day of participation. T here were three main findings; a) rates of aggressive responding did n ot vary across phases of the menstrual cycle; b) the high-symptom grou p emitted higher rates of aggressive responding across the menstrual c ycle than did the low-symptom group; and c) rates of aggressive respon ding correlated with the MDQ's behavioral and psychological scales and not the somatic scales, These findings indicate that the menstrual cy cle phase does neat differentially affect this laboratory measure of a ggression, The differences found between the two symptom groups parall el a few reports indicating that women who differ in retrospectively r eported mood and behavioral changes related to their menstrual cycle a lso differ on a number of other psychometric measures. (C) 1998 Wiley- Liss, Inc.