Can Freud explain women as well as men? A meta-analytic review of gender differences in psychoanalytic research.

Given the reputation that psychoanalytic theory is biased against women, this study investigated 2 questions: (a) How common is it that empirical studies of psychoanalytic theory use male as opposed to female participants? and (b) What is the success rate in predicting women's and men's behavior? The empirical study of psychoanalytic hypotheses is apparently a predominantly male endeavor involving predominantly male participants. A meta-analysis of 98 relevant articles demonstrated that studies using both genders reported stronger results with men than women. However, studies using one gender only reported comparable results for men and women. Author gender, date of publication, and type of outcome measure used were unrelated to outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)