Crying, oral contraceptive use and the menstrual cycle.

Background: Crying, a complex neurobiological behavior with psychosocial and communication features, has been little studied in relationship to the menstrual cycle.

Methods: In the Mood and Daily Life study (MiDL), a community sample of Canadian women aged 18-43 years, n=76, recorded crying proneness and crying frequency daily for six months along with menstrual cycle phase information.

Results: Crying proneness was most likely during the premenstruum, a little less likely during menses and least likely during the mid-cycle phase, with statistically significant differences although the magnitude of these differences were small.

Women's perceptions of influences on their mood.

Aims: Knowledge of prevailing community ideas about mood determination can guide research about variability in mood. A random sample of urban Canadian women, aged 18-40 years (n = 507), was asked to compare the relative importance of three specified domains (physical health, social support, stress) as influences on their mood and then to list additional life experiences they considered important. They also rated the frequency and recurrence patterns (cyclicity) of their daily positive and negative moods.

Crying as a gendered indicator of depression.

Crying is a gendered activity; women in the general population are known to cry more than men. However, crying is also used as a sign of depression. Its use may explain some of the discrepancy in rates of depression in men and women.