Positive and negative affect fluctuations during the menstrual cycle

Studies about affect changes during the menstrual cycle and the role of hormones in these changes have yielded contradictory results. Often research has focused on the pre-menstrual phase, with few studies paying specific attention to the affect changes around ovulation. In this research thirty women completed a daily questionnaire measuring the positive and negative affect during their menstrual cycle. These women were divided in two groups: hormonally-contracepting and naturally-cycling. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule was used to measure the affect. A Digital Ovulation Test was used to determine the day of ovulation in the participants not taking hormonal contraceptives by measuring the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) peak. The differences in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) between groups were examined. The results indicate that during the ovulatory phase, PA scores are significantly higher in naturally-cycling women’s than hormonally-contracepting women’s.