Emotional stress responses, encompassing both stress reactivity and regulation, have been shown to differ between men and women, but the neural networks supporting these processes remain unclear. The current study used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to investigate sex differences in neural responses during stress and the sex-specific relationships between these responses and emotional stress responses for men and women. A significant sex by condition interaction revealed that men showed greater stress responses in prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions, whereas women had stronger responses in limbic/striatal regions. Although men and women did not significantly differ in emotional stress reactivity or subjective reports of stress regulation, these responses were associated with distinct neural networks. Higher dorsomedial PFC responses were associated with lower stress reactivity in men, but higher stress reactivity in women. In contrast, while higher ventromedial PFC stress responses were associated with worse stress regulation in men (but better regulation in women), dynamic increases in vmPFC responses during stress were associated with lower stress reactivity in men. Finally, stress-induced hippocampal responses were more adaptive for women: for men, high and dynamically increasing responses in left hippocampus were associated with high stress reactivity, and dynamic increases in the left (but not right) hippocampus were associated with worse stress regulation. Together, these results reveal that men and women engage distinct neural networks during stress, and sex-specific neural stress responses facilitate optimal emotional stress responses.

男女之间的情绪应激反应，包括应激反应性和调节性，都表现出差异，但是支持这些过程的神经网络仍然不清楚。当前的研究使用功能性神经成像（fMRI）来研究压力期间神经反应的性别差异以及这些反应与情绪压力反应之间的性别特异性关系。通过条件交互作用进行的重要性别分析表明，男性在前额叶皮层（PFC）区域表现出更大的压力反应，而女性在边缘/纹状体区域表现出更强的压力反应。尽管男人和女人在情绪压力反应性或压力调节的主观报告上没有显着差异，但这些反应与独特的神经网络有关。较高的背PFC反应与男性较低的应激反应性相关，但女性较高。相反，尽管较高的腹侧PFC应激反应与男性较差的压力调节相关（而女性则较差），但是在应激过程中vmPFC反应的动态增加与男性较低的应激反应性相关。最后，压力引起的海马反应更适合女性：对于男性，左海马的高动态反应与高压力反应性相关，而左（而非右）海马的动态增加与压力调节较差有关。这些结果加在一起表明，男人和女人在压力期间会参与不同的神经网络，而针对特定性别的神经压力反应则有助于最佳的情绪压力反应。