Gender differences in neural correlates of stress‐induced anxiety

Abstract

Although gender differences have been identified as a crucial factor for understanding stress-related anxiety and associated clinical disorders, the neural mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear. To explore gender differences in the neural correlates of stress-induced anxiety, the current study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain responses in 96 healthy men and women with commensurable levels of trait anxiety as they engaged in a personalized guided imagery paradigm to provoke stress and neutral-relaxing experiences. During the task, a significant Gender main effect emerged, with men displaying greater responses in the caudate, cingulate gyrus, mid-brain, thalamus, and cerebellum. In contrast, women showed greater responses in the posterior insula, temporal gyrus, and occipital lobe. Additionally, a significant Anxiety Ratings × Gender interaction from whole-brain regression analyses was observed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, left inferior parietal lobe, left temporal gyrus, occipital gyrus, and cerebellum (p < 0.05, whole-brain FWE corrected), with positive associations between activity in these regions and stress-induced anxiety in women, but negative associations in men, indicating that men and women differentially utilize neural resources when experiencing stress-induced anxiety. The findings suggest that in response to stress, there is a greater utilization of the medial prefrontal-parietal cortices in experiencing subjective anxiety in women, while decreased utilization of this circuit was associated with increased subjective anxiety states in men. The current study has implications for understanding gender-specific differences in stress-induced anxiety and vulnerability to stress-related clinical disorders, and for developing more effective treatment strategies tailored to each gender.

Child and family‐related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

“…Not enough has been done to study the differences between male and female brain functions, but in the light of the few studies that have been published we can assume that there are gender differences in brain reactions to stress (McEwen & Morrison, ; Seo, Ahluwalia, Potenza. & Sinha, ). Our finding suggests more research is needed in this field.…”

“…Among those who were longer at home, girls had fewer later externalizing behavioral problems than boys. Not enough has been done to study the differences between male and female brain functions, but in the light of the few studies that have been published we can assume that there are gender differences in brain reactions to stress (McEwen & Morrison, 2013;Seo, Ahluwalia, Potenza. & Sinha, 2017).…”

Psychological Impact of a Pandemic Widespread in Healthcare Workers: The Italian and Swiss Perspective Early After of CoVid-19 Outbreak

“…Hormonal differences in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system response are wellknown. It has been hypothesized that females tend to experience more frequently anxious and depressive states (also with physical symptoms), being more aware of potential stressors rather than men [17] In our sample, percentages of married, single, divorced etc. and other demographic characteristics were grossly comparable to the Swiss and Italian population [18,19].…”

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“…In addition to cultural differences, Ha, Kang, and Han (2019) reported variationsto depend onthe roles of players in basketball teams. Similarly, there are gender differences in the prevalence of anxiety disorders (Asher, Asnaani,&Aderka, 2016), competitive anxiety (PonsetiVerdaguer, Sese, and Garcia-Mas, 2016;Kurimay, Pope-Rhodius,&Kondric, 2017), and physiological process during anxious states (Seo et al, 2017). Lesinger et al (2018) discovered the influence of the training experience of competitive anxiety among junior handball players.…”