No Menstrual Cyclicity in Mood and Interpersonal Behaviour in Nine Women with Self-Reported Premenstrual Syndrome

Before diagnosing premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), 2 months of prospective assessment are required to confirm menstrual cyclicity in symptoms. For a diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), this is not required. Women with PMDD and PMS often report that their symptoms interfere with mood and social functioning, and are said to show cyclical changes in interpersonal behaviour, but this has not been examined using a prospective approach. We sampled cyclicity in mood and interpersonal behaviour for 2 months in women with self- reported PMS.

Participants met the criteria for PMS on the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), a retrospective questionnaire. For 2 menstrual cycles, after each social interaction, they used the online software TEMPEST to record on their smartphones how they felt and behaved. We examined within-person variability in negative affect, positive affect, quarrelsomeness, and agreeableness.

Participants evaluated TEMPEST as positive. However, we found no evidence for menstrual cyclicity in mood and interpersonal behaviour in any of the individual women (n = 9).

Retrospective questionnaires such as the PSST may lead to oversampling of PMS. The diagnosis of PMS, like that of PMDD, might require 2 months of prospective assessment.