Comparative gender biases in models of personality disorder

The potential of gender bias within the DSM personality disorders has long been a concern of scholars and clinicians. Over the past three decades, research findings utilizing the case vignette methodology have repeatedly indicated a gender bias within the histrionic diagnosis. The current study replicates these findings using a novel case vignette, but extends them to investigate the potential for gender biases within an alternative dimensional model of personality-the Five-Factor Model (FFM). One hundred and forty-one practicing clinicians rated either a male or a female version of a case vignette in terms of either the FFM or the personality disorders from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). The results supported the concern of gender bias, with the female case less likely to be diagnosed as antisocial and the male case less likely to be diagnosed as histrionic. However, when the FFM conceptualizations of these two disorders were compared, no significant differences were noted. The results indicate that the FFM may be less prone to gender bias than the current DSM nomenclature.