Goldstien (1988)

Question 1

what was the aim of the research?

Answer 1

1. to see if there are any gender differences in regard to rehospitalisation of people with SZ
2. to consider social factors to see if they had impact on the course of the disorder in regard to gender
3. to look at the DSM 2 and 3 to see if there was a difference in diagnosis to test the Reliability and Validity of them

Question 2

what was the sample?

Answer 2

consisted of 199 PPTs in the original sample, all were rediagnosed 10 years later with the DSM 3 and 169 met the criteria of the DSM 3 - of these 169, 90 patients were selected for the study. 58 men and 32 women with a mean age of 24 with a high level of education, 87 were non hispanic white and middle class.

Question 3

what data did he gather about the disorder?

Answer 3

Symptoms - what SZ symptoms the PPT had, eg, grandiosity, anxiety, withdrawel, etc. these were found in a structured interview with the patients.

Premorbid Functioning - the functioning of the person before the illness. This was measured by a questionnaire dealing with occupational status, isolation, and interests

Course of illness - the number of rehospitalisations and lengths of stay that the PPTs had over a 10 year period.

Question 4

what were the results?

Answer 4

Men had a higher number of rehospitalisations than women and longer stays over a 10 year period. Mean hospitalisations - women: 1.12, men: 2.24
mean length of stay - women: 206, men: 417 days (over a 10 year period)

Question 5

what were the conclusions?

Answer 5

a gender difference is strong, males have a poorer outcome than females. The gender differences start early on in the disorder.