Sex Differences in Stress Factors

In order to describe qualitative or categorical variables, we used frequencies and percentages and to describe quantitative variables we used means, and standard deviation; these were used instead of median and ranges (considering the non-parametric distribution of the data) because they better reflected the differences observed between sexes. In order to verify the distribution of the data, we used the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. In order to compare categorical variables between sexes we used a chi-squared test. To compare the psychological variation between sexes, we used the Man–Whitney U test, considering the non-parametric distribution of these variables. To perform correlations between psychological variables, we used the Spearman correlation test. Finally, a multiple regression analysis, with the stepwise method for stress as a dependent variable, was performed for each sex, in order to determine the variables significantly correlated with stress after adjustment for confounders in both sexes. In this analysis, we excluded the variables anxiety and depression (in order to detect the coping strategies most associated with stress, excluding the variables most associated with stress: anxiety and depression). All analyses were performed with the software SPSS v. 25, and a p value < 0.05 was considered significant.