Last Updated on Sunday, 12 July 2009 23:08
New research from the British Psychological Society shows women are more likely to overspend just before their period.
A new study which is due to be presented to the British Psychological Society later this week has found a link between the female menstrual cycle and excessive shopping sprees.
Karen Pine, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Hertfordshire found that women are more likely to shop-till-they-drop in the 10-day interval immediately before their periods begin.
Psychologists believe shopping could be a way for premenstrual women to deal with the negative emotions created by their hormonal changes
Professor Pine is an expert in non-verbal behaviour and is also co-author of the book Sheconomics, a bi-product of her research into women’s emotional relationship with money. Professor Pine’s latest research took a sample of 443 women between the ages of 18 and 50 and analysed their spending habits.
Of the sample taken, just over a third were in the latter luteal phase of their monthly period pre-menstruation. Over 60 per cent of the women in the luteal phase admitted to impulse buying of unnecessary items in their weekly shopping.
Over 50 per cent confessed to spending more than £25 over their budget allowance on their superfluous items, whilst a select few divulged they had overspent by more than £250 on their item. Whilst many of the shoppers were ashamed of their frivolous spending after the event, Professor Pine believes this is a natural coping measure to compensate for the body’s fluctuating hormonal state.
The luteal phase varies from person to person, but in most women it lasts between 10 and 16 days. In general, women are much more susceptible to roiling emotions because of the increased levels of progesterone in the body during this stage of the menstrual cycle.
The negative emotional effect of the fluctuating hormone levels is the reason behind the increased spending according to Professor Pine: “Spending was less controlled, more impulsive and more excessive for women in the luteal phase,†reported the BBC.
Professor Pine went on: “The spending behaviour tends to be a reaction to intense emotions. They are feeling stressed or depressed and are more likely to go shopping to cheer themselves up and using it to regulate their emotions.â€
Retail therapy it seems is more than just a buzzword, and could be a psychological means for women to balance their hormonal hyper-activity. The study found that the results were particularly prominent in women with severe PMT.
Professor Pine said that the results were hardly surprising, as the hormonal flux directly affects the part of the brain which has been shown to have links with inhibitory control. When control is relaxed through excessive progesterone then the chance of overspending dramatically increases.
One possible alternative to this theory is that women want to buy items which enhance their attractiveness to men as they prepare for ovulation. The vast majority of the purchases made by women in their luteal phase, when they were at their peak of fertility, were jewellery, make-up and high-heeled shoes.
Professor Pine will present her findings to some of the British Psychological Society’s 45,000 members at a conference later this week.
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