gender bias

Question 1

what is gender bias?

Answer 1

The tendency for diagnostic criteria to be applied differently to male and females and for there to be differences in the classification of the disorder.

Question 2

long and Powell 1988

Answer 2

• randomly selected 290 black/white males/females
• sex and race of psychologists and clients influenced the diagnosis
• women were less likely to be given a diagnosis and black clients were more likely
• patient was described as male = 56% gave sz diagnosis
• the patient was described as female = 20%
• when the psychiatrist was female no gender bias was found

Question 3

males tend to suffer more negative symptoms than women

Answer 3

Galderisi et al 2012 and women typically function better than men, being more likely to go to work and have good family relationships Cotton et al. 2009

Question 4

what are the differences between men and women that affect schizophrenia?

Answer 4

men = diagnosed at an average of 25, are more likely to have drug abuse as comorbidity, negative symptoms, worse social functioning

women = later symptoms shown, positive symptoms

Question 5

why are women’s experiences taken less seriously and underdiagnosed compared to men’s?

Answer 5

• better-coping strategies than men
• less likely to seek treatment