title: Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.
abstract: The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Science, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston 71272.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tobacyk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D015277:Hotlines / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D010507:Periodicity