Here’s the scapegoat unhappy spouses have been waiting for: According to a
paper out last week by Michael R. Gillings, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can ruin a marriage. Gillings claims that PMSing women—in infertile couples in particular—may use feelings of “animosity” as well as risk-seeking and competitive behaviors to leave their husbands and find someone new. I’m sorry to say, but the evidence in favor of this hypothesis is thinner than Always Infinity menstrual pads.
The first problem with Gillings’ paper is that it does not define PMS symptoms, and in fact, regularly confuses PMS and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), by citing papers on PMDD while making claims about PMS. PMDD is a serious disorder, which affects 5 to 8 percent of women, compared to PMS affecting around 80 percent. PMS, broadly speaking—that is, any negative change in any physical, behavioral, or psychological factors during the premenstrual phase—is frequent for people who have ovulatory menstrual cycles. You tend to need ovulation to get a rise in progesterone in the second half of your cycle, and you need the rise in progesterone to get the decline in progesterone that leads to a number of these symptoms. The severity doesn’t seem to increase with progesterone in within-population comparisons, but cultural and population-specific differences in PMS symptomology and incidence suggest ties to cultural context and environment. Many papers have demonstrated that there is a full spectrum of PMS symptoms from minor, to distressing, to completely impeding normal function. And there’s a hefty literature suggesting at least some of this variation is related to one’s sensitivity to hormones, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.
The next curious thing about Gillings’ paper is its long section devoted to convincing the reader that PMS has a genetic origin. As my fellow University of Illinois professor Charles Roseman said over email, “Find me something that varies that is not heritable.” That is, the fact that PMS is heritable and variable tells us nothing about whether women with PMS have more children than those who don’t, and this is the true test for adaptation. This crucial point—the third and most crucial condition for natural selection—is absent from the paper.
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Originally Posted by Captain Obvious
