SEX BIAS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PERSONALITY-DISORDERS - A DIFFERENT APPROACH

There has been considerable controversy regarding a possible sex bias in the diagnosis of personality disorders (PDs). However prior researc h has at times confused a bias within clinicians who fail to adhere to the diagnostic criteria with a bias within the diagnostic criteria. R ather than assess whether females are more likely than males to be dia gnosed with a respective disorder the current study assesses whether t he thresholds for the diagnosis of female-typed PDs are lower than the thresholds for male-typed PDs. Subjects completed two self-report inv entories for the DSM-III-R personality disorders, and three inventorie s that assessed 30 aspects of personality dysfunction organized with r espect to social dysfunction, occupational dysfunction, and personal d istress. There was no indication that the diagnostic thresholds for pe rsonality disorders that occur more often in females is lower than the thresholds for the personality disorders that occur more often in mal es. The implications of these findings for the issue of sex biased dia gnoses are discussed.