Sex differences in DSM-III-R, Axis II—Personality disorders

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt has been made to elucidate sex differences present in the Axis II, personality disorders, in the DSM-III-R. Five-hundred and thirty-one subjects, 176 healthy volunteers and 355 psychiatric patients, 231 males and 300 females, were investigated by means of the SCID screen questionnaire. There were significant sex differences as concerns 31 out of total 103 Axis II criteria. The most pronounced sex differences were seen in narcissistic, borderline and antisocial personality disorders. As a previous study demonstrated that personality disorders are in fact dimensional traits where the cut off points are placed within a normal rather than a bimodal distribution, it was of interest to elucidate the number of criteria fulfilled for each separate personality disorder. Significant sex differences in this dimensional perspective were seen in self-defeating and borderline personality disorders (females predominating). Antisocial personality traits were more common among males. It has also been demonstrated in an earlier study that if an adjusted cut-off is used, the presence or absence of personality disorders can be determined by means of the SCID screen questionnaire with an accuracy of a kappa coefficient = 0.78. If such a method is used, males had a higher prevalence of obsessive-compulsive and schizoid personality disorder. The opposite was true for borderline personality disorder.