Findings on the role of sex differences in the transmission of schizophrenia have been inconclusive, due to differences in sampling, phenotypic definitions and study designs. 3 , 77 , 78 However, Goldstein and colleagues 3 propose that there may be sex differences in liability thresholds to schizophrenia due to greater impact of environmental exposures such as pre‐ and peri‐natal complications in boys. They observe varying rates of diagnoses across the schizophrenia spectrum in relatives of male and female probands, with higher rates of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder in families of female probands, and higher rates of schizotypal personality disorder in families of male probands. Therefore, this may indicate that males and females may exhibit different forms of the schizophrenia spectrum. This suggests that the systems underlying the illness may be different in males and females, rather than their having different liability thresholds.
