Credit: Cedric Kanger/Creative Commons

Newly published research casts doubts on the link between women’s menstrual cycle and their political views, suggesting the association is “weaker or less reliable than previously thought.”

Widely-reported research published 2013 in Psychological Science found that women’s menstrual cycle influenced their religious and political orientation differently depending on their relationship status.

But a new two-part study by Kristina M. Durante of the University of Texas at San Antonio and her colleagues found that single women tended to become more socially liberal, less religious, and more likely to vote for Barack Obama during the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle. Women in committed relationships, on the other hand, tended to become more socially conservative, more religious, and more likely to vote for Obama’s opponent Mitt Romney.

But a new study of 750 women, published in the journal PLoS One, found no evidence of link between menstrual cycle phase and political conservatism.

“In summary, our data offer little support for the proposal that there is a substantial, politically significant, effect of […]