Effects of menstrual cycle phase on reporting levels of aggression using the buss and perry aggression questionnaire

The Aggression Questionnaire [Buss and Perry, 1992, Journal of Personality and Aggression , vol. 63, pp. 452–459] was administered to women at menses and during the midluteal phase of their menstrual cycles to assess changes in reporting aggressive behavior as a function of menstrual phase. Men served as a control group, and also received the questionnaire twice, once at session I and once at session II. Women at menses reported a significantly higher level of physically aggressive behavior than during the midluteal phase. A similar but non‐significant trend was found for reporting verbal aggression. There were no changes in reporting of anger or hostility across the menstrual cycle. This produced a significant sex‐difference on reporting physical aggression between men and women at the midluteal phase but not at menses. Aggr. Behav. 29:531–538, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.