Birth Control Use and Mental Health, Substance Use, & Sexual Fluidity Outcomes ...

We are interested in how hormonal contraceptives (HCs) impact women’s psychology, specifically their mental health, their inclination to use substances, and their sexuality. HCs have been prescribed for pregnancy prevention and a surplus of other purposes, such as to ease menstrual cramps and treat acne. Despite the ways that birth control has been utilized, many women experience unwanted side effects that deter use. For example, almost half of women discontinue their HC within a year of starting it due to side-effects (Sanders et al., 2001). Thus, one goal of the study at hand is to understand whether HCs are truly improving premenstrual symptoms of PMS relative to natural cyclers (NCs). Additionally, much research finds that progesterone is a potent immunomodulator and shifts the body from a more proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory state (Fedotcheva et al., 2022). Given that research finds a negative relationship between levels of basal inflammatory activity in the body and vigilance toward signs of ...