Psychosomatic Medicine 33:515-538 (1971)
© 1971 American Psychosomatic Society

Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Affective Fluctuations Associated with the Menstrual Cycle

¹ Department of Psychology, University of California Davis

Karen E. Paige, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Calif 95616

Cyclic changes in the magnitude of negative affect were measured among a sample of 102 women who differed only in their use of oral contraceptives. Negative affect was measured by content-analyzing verbal speech collected at four different phases of the menstrual cycle under conditions that disguised the real purpose of the study. While women with natural menstrual cycles produced a U-shaped pattern of negative affect, women using combination oral contraceptives showed no cyclic affective changes. These results were not determined by self-selection, prior expectations or reduction of physical discomfort among users of drug combinations. Further analysis suggested that the absence of affective fluctuations among users of drug combinations may be due, in part, to the effects of the drug on the intensity of menstrual flow, and in part, to its effects on MAO activity.

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