Could “The Pill” Make Women Jealous?

This study may or may not open a new front in the battle of the sexes, but British researchers claim that certain birth control pills may increase feelings of jealousy and undermine a relationship. And estrogen may be the worst offender in terms of making a woman think that her significant other might be cheating.

The DailyMail explains:

A study claims sex hormones in the contraceptive Pill bring out the green-eyed monster, making a woman more possessive and more likely to fret about her husband or boyfriend’s fidelity.

Those taking brands with the highest levels of oestrogen [estrogen] may even find their hormone-driven suspicions place their relationship in jeopardy, researchers warned.

Researchers affiliated with Stirling University in the U.K. questioned 275 women taking oral contraceptives about how much they trusted their partner. As noted above, the data apparently a revealed a linkage between the Pill–especially those brands containing high levels of estrogen–and jealously.

Progesterone-only pills seemed to “play less havoc with women’s emotions,” however, according to the study which was published in the Personality and Individual Differences journal.

As quoted by the London Telegraph, study co-author Dr. Craig Roberts cautioned the following:

It seems that women, and perhaps pharmaceutical providers, are not fully aware of the range of potential psychological side-effects associated with pill use and more specifically brand choice.