Changes in Women's Choice of Dress Across the Ovulatory Cycle: Naturalistic and Laboratory Task-Based Evidence

Author

Kristina M. DURANTE, University of Texas at Austin
Norman P. LI, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Martie G. HASELTON, University of California, Los Angeles

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

11-2008

Abstract

The authors tested the prediction that women prefer clothing that is more revealing and sexy when fertility is highest within the ovulatory cycle. Eighty-eight women reported to the lab twice: once on a low-fertility day of the cycle and once on a high-fertility day (confirmed using hormone tests). In each session, participants posed for full-body photographs in the clothing they wore to the lab, and they drew illustrations to indicate an outfit they would wear to a social event that evening. Although each data source supported the prediction, the authors found the most dramatic changes in clothing choice in the illustrations. Ovulatory shifts in clothing choice were moderated by sociosexuality, attractiveness, relationship status, and relationship satisfaction. Sexually unrestricted women, for example, showed greater shifts in preference for revealing clothing worn to the laboratory near ovulation. The authors suggest that clothing preference shifts could reflect an increase in female–female competition near ovulation.

Keywords

menstrual cycle, ovulation, clothing, female sexuality, sociosexuality

Discipline

Gender and Sexuality | Personality and Social Contexts | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Volume

34

Issue

11

First Page

1451

Last Page

1460

ISSN

0146-1672

Identifier

10.1177/0146167208323103

Publisher

SAGE

Citation

DURANTE, Kristina M., LI, Norman P., & HASELTON, Martie G..(2008). Changes in Women's Choice of Dress Across the Ovulatory Cycle: Naturalistic and Laboratory Task-Based Evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(11), 1451-1460.

Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/957

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208323103