The methodological soundness of the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) is considered. New data are presented which show that male (N = 34) and female (N = 25) subjects report very similar patterns of symptoms and symptom “changes” when asked to indicate on the MDQ what women experience during the menstrual cycle. When the symptom scales on the MDQ are rank ordered according to the size of the “changes”--differences from intermenstrual phase--reported during the premenstrual and menstrual phases, the rankings of the female and male subjects are highly correlated (r=0.88 for both menstrual and premenstrual “changes”). While Moos has interpreted women's responses on the MDQ as evidence of “premenstrual tension” or “premenstrual syndromes,” results of the present study suggest an alternative interpretation in terms of stereotypic beliefs about the psychological concomitants of menstruation.
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Mary Brown Parlee (1974) studied this question.