Are there gender differences in DSM-IV personality disorders?

This study examined gender differences in DSM-IV personality disorders (PD) in outpatients. Structured diagnostic interviews were reliably administered to a consecutive series of 145 outpatients with a primary axis I diagnosis of binge eating disorder (BED). To further reduce variability due to heterogeneity of axis I, a subgroup of 75 patients with co-occurring major depressive disorder (MDD) was retested for gender differences. Overall, the proportion of males (34.4%) and females (27.4%) diagnosed with any PD did not significantly differ. Specific PD diagnoses were not differentially distributed by gender in the overall study group of patients with BED or in the subgroup of patients with BED and MDD, except for antisocial PD in males.