Background: Mental health problems affect men and women differently and women have a higher prevalence of mental health issues than men. Overall, women are two to three times more likely to be affected than men. Scientific literature tends to confirm that gender bias among professionals plays a certain role in mental health diagnosis.

The aim of this study is to find out whether these biases already exist prior to professional practice by investigating the presence of gender biases in psychology and medical students.

Method: The study used two identical versions of online questionnaires and clinical vignettes, differing only in the gender of the character depicted. The vignettes were presented to the participants at random. 429 students from the University of Geneva answered the questionnaire and 362 responses were included in the analysis. The study focused on three diagnoses: depression, borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (APD).

Results: For the majority of vignettes and diagnoses, the results showed no significant difference in the choice of diagnosis depending on the gender of the portrayed character. The results were significant for the vignette centred on APD and in the diagnosis of BPD with an odds ratio of 0.61 (95% confidence interval 0.38-0.98) (for BPD). In addition, the variable year and faculty of study had a significant influence on the choice of diagnosis for two vignettes (p = 0.006 for the depression vignette and p <0.001 for the APD vignette).

Conclusion: Overall, the study did not identify any gender bias in students’ choice of psychiatric diagnosis. However, it did highlight the influence of year and faculty of study in this decision.