Ego Depletion and Changes in the Premenstrual Phase

What accounts for the stark changes in emotion, cognition, and behavior in women during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle? I hypothesize that, in addition to the effects of hormones, a lack of self-control may account for these changes. The metabolically expensive activity of the premenstrual phase diverts energy from metabolically expensive self-regulatory processes, making the use of self-control more difficult. In this article, I experimentally test this hypothesis with the dual-task paradigm common to self-control research. That is, participants perform one task that requires and depletes self-control—the Stroop task—followed by another task that requires self-control—a dependent measure. I randomly assigned 34 undergraduate women to either a control or ego depletion condition and to participate either during the premenstrual or postmenstrual phase of their menstrual cycles. I measured total affect, critical thinking, and aggression. Results, while preliminary, are consistent with the hypothesis that self-control depletion is not only linked to emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes in the premenstrual phase, but also exaggerates these changes. I offer an explanation for my findings and conclude with a discussion of future work and implications.