Progesterone and negative emotionality across and between ovulatory cycles: A study of romantically involved women

In prior work, naturally cycling women's progesterone levels were found to be associated with their anxiety levels and concerns about levels of social support. The current study further examined these associations. Naturally cycling partnered women (N = 180) participated in up to four in-lab sessions across a month. Each session, they filled out measures of their mood states and their concerns about investment by their primary relationship partners. Progesterone, estradiol, testosterone, and cortisol levels were assayed in session-specific urine samples. In mixed model analyses, both average levels of hormones and within-woman variations of hormones were entered as predictors of negative emotionality and concerns about partner investment. Women's mean levels of progesterone positively predicted these outcomes, but their session-specific variations in progesterone were weakly and not significantly associated with these outcomes. Mean estradiol levels negatively and mean testosterone levels positively predicted negative emotionality. Only within-woman variations in cortisol levels predicted negative emotionality. In additional analyses, both mean follicular and luteal phase levels of progesterone predicted negative emotionality. Overall, results are not consistent with progesterone affecting negative emotionality. Perhaps negative emotionality influences progesterone levels, though additional research is needed before definitive causal conclusions can be offered.

Duke Scholars

Author Melissa Emery Thompson Evolutionary Anthropology