title: Gender issues and borderline personality disorder: why do females dominate the diagnosis?
abstract: There are significantly more females with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder than males. This article explores the developmental factors that place females at a greater risk to develop the disorder. Societal expectations that increase the emerging of borderline symptoms are also discussed. Gender differences of "normal" behavior that effect the assigning of the diagnosis are explained. The theory that borderline personality disorder has become the "virus" of psychiatry is presented.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Psychiatric Nursing, Kent State University, OH.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simmons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000592:standards; D012737:Sex Factors; D013240:Stereotyping