Women and their husbands: mood and arousal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle and days of the week.

Abstract

 

This study examined the relationship between biological (menstrual cycle) and social-contextual (day of the week) factors and psychological and physical events among nine women and their spouses. Employing P-technique factor analysis to identify consistent patterns in single-subject data over 90 days of reporting, two factors emerged: Negative Mood and Arousal. When these factors were compared over five phases of each woman's menstrual cycle, the only significant finding was that men's Arousal scores were significantly greater during their wives' menses phase compared to their follicular phase. Negative Moods decreased on weekends for both males and females, and females also showed a decline in Arousal on the weekend. The finding that our social factor (day of the week) accounted for more variability in subjects' reports than did our biological factor (the menstrual cycle) emphasizes the importance of considering biological events in the context of social structures and belief systems.