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Do Women Feel Worse to Look Their Best? Testing the Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Fertility Status Across the Menstrual Cycle
Sarah E. Hill, Ph.D.*
and
Kristina M. Durante
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: s.e.hill{at}tcu.edu.
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Abstract |
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Two studies measured self-esteem across the menstrual cycle to test the prediction that self-esteem will vary interindividually as a positive function of mate value and intraindividually as a negative function of fertility status. Study 1 (n = 52) found that self-esteem was positively related to mate value between women but that women experienced a self-esteem decrease nearest to ovulation, when women tend to be more attractive to men. Study 2 (n = 59) replicated these results and demonstrated that the self-esteem decrease at high fertility was positively related to women's reported long-term mating motivation. Additionally, the magnitude of the self-esteem decrease at high fertility was found to be related to increased willingness to spend money on items to enhance attractiveness at high fertility. A self-esteem decrease at high fertility may motivate mate value enhancement efforts when such efforts are most critical.
First published on September 17, 2009, doi:10.1177/0146167209346303
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009;35:1592.
A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2009
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