Date of Award

Spring 8-1-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

June Sprock

Second Advisor

Veanne N. Anderson

Third Advisor

Samuel Schnitzer

Abstract

This research examined the differential perception of severity of histrionic personality disorder symptoms in males versus females in order to investigate one possible explanation for the increased rates in diagnosis of this disorder in females. Thirty male and thirty female volunteer undergraduates from a midwestern university were asked to sort the DSM-III-R criteria for all the personality disorders, including the two proposed categories, selfdefeating and sadistic personality disorders, according to degree of abnormality. Each criterion was typed on a separate index card for a total of 142 cards and subjects were asked to sort the symptom cards on a Likert-type scale from one (not at all abnormal) through seven (most abnormal). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three instruction conditions, male, female, or gender unspecified, in which they were instructed to rate the abnormality of the criteria for males, females, or with no reference to gender. For the purpose of this study, only the ratings for histrionic personality disorder criteria were considered. Results suggest a trend for nearly all histrionic criteria to be rated as somewhat more abnormal in the female condition than in the other two conditions, although the difference was significant for only one criterion. There were no significant differences between male and female subjects, although there was trend for subjects to rate some iv of the criteria somewhat more harshly for their own gender. Implications of the study for the diagnoses of histrionic personality disorder as well as directions for future research are discussed.

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