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Gender and First Psychotic Episodes in Adolescence

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Psychopathology in Women

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Abstract

Research findings in first psychotic episodes in adolescence reveal the existence of differences between men and women in the clinical characteristics of the illness. Biological differences between men and women interacting with the predisposing factors that may, in turn, be influenced by social and cultural factors may explain differences in the etiopathogenesis and clinical expression of psychosis between males and females.

The male gender could lead to increased susceptibility to neurodevelopmental abnormalities as well as to a predisposition to substance abuse that could confer to the male gender to be more vulnerable to suffer more severe psychosis of neurodevelopmental origin.

On the other hand, the stress and traumatic experiences as a risk factor for psychosis may have a greater weight in the female gender. Given this, we should consider the possible predominance of the female gender in psychotic disorders associated with trauma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain

    Álvaro Andreu & Ernesto José Verdura Vizcaino

  2. Hospital Sierrallana, Santander, Spain

    Maria Juncal Ruiz

  3. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Hospital Universitario Marques Valdecilla, Santander, Spain

    Beatriz Payá-González

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  1. Álvaro Andreu
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Correspondence to Beatriz Payá-González .

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  1. Cruces University Hospital, University of the Basque Country, Barakaldo, Vizcaya, Spain

    Margarita Sáenz-Herrero

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Andreu, Á., Ruiz, M.J., Verdura Vizcaino, E.J., Payá-González, B. (2019). Gender and First Psychotic Episodes in Adolescence. In: Sáenz-Herrero, M. (eds) Psychopathology in Women. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15179-9_29

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