Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:1298-1301
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Gender differences on thought disturbance measures among schizophrenic patients
W Perry, D Moore and D Braff
UCSD Medical Center 92103-8620, USA.
OBJECTIVE: This study examined gender differences on three measures of
thought disturbance among patients with schizophrenia and the relation
between thought disturbance and social competency. METHOD: Fifty-three male
and 34 female patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the
DSM-III-R criteria were assessed on measures of thought disturbance:
subscales of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS),
subscales of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and the Ego
Impairment Index. Gender differences on the three measures of thought
disturbance and the relation of these measures to demographic variables and
other variables, such as social competency, were examined. RESULTS: Male
and female schizophrenic patients demonstrated similar degrees of thought
disturbance on the pertinent subscales of the SAPS and the BPRS, but the
male schizophrenic patients had scores showing greater impairment on the
Ego Impairment Index. Furthermore, a relationship between thought
disturbance and social competency was confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: These
findings support other studies in which female patients were found to have
a "milder" form of schizophrenia, generally characterized by better social
functioning, than their male counterparts. The literature regarding
gender-related differences in thought disturbance in schizophrenia has been
unclear and complicated by design issues such as obtaining adequate samples
of subjects and optimizing measurement selection. The findings of this
study suggest that use of a converging-measures strategy allows a better
assessment of thought disturbance in severely ill schizophrenic patients
and an understanding of the importance of thought disorder with respect to
gender-related patterns of clinical characteristics, such as social
competency.
