The Sex Differences in Cortisol Concentrations, Anxiety, and Depressive Mood In Moroccan Youth



Ismail Rammouz1, 2, 3, 4, *, Motohiro Nakajima5, Saïd Boujraf1, Rachid Aalouane1, 4, Andrine M. Lemieux5, Mustafa al’Absi5, 6, 7
1 Clinical Neurosciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
2 Health Sciences Research Laboratory, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco
3 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco
4 Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Fez, Fez, Morocco
5 Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, U.S.A.
6 Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States
7 Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Abstract

Background:

Evidence indicates sex differences in stress response and mental health challenges. Psychobiological research of early symptoms of psychopathology has suggested that cortisol, as a marker of stress, is positively associated with depressive mood and anxiety in adolescents. To date, no study has examined sex differences in the relationships between cortisol levels and negative mood among Moroccan youth.

Methods:

A total of 332 Moroccan secondary students (171 female) aged 11 to 20 completed a range of psychological measures and provided two morning saliva samples across atwo-hour period. We hypothesized that females would show greater levels of depression and anxiety symptoms than males. We also anticipated positive relationships between cortisol and those symptoms.

Results and Discussion:

The results demonstrated the expected cortisol morning decline due to the diurnal pattern. Higher anxiety (p < .001), higher depressive mood (p < .001), and more clinically relevant depression were found in the females (47.7%) than the males (22.5%; p < .001). In addition, anxiety (p < .05) was positively associated with later morning cortisol in females but not males.

Conclusion:

Our results demonstrated sex differences in depressive mood among youth and the feasibility of psychobiological stress research in Morocco. More research is needed to identify sex-specific factors of depression and anxiety. Such effort would inform strategies to tailor treatment programs for females and males.

Keywords: Cortisol, Adolescent, Depression, Anxiety, Sex difference, Psychobiological.

Abstract Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2023
Volume: 19
DOI: 10.2174/17450179-v19-e230215-2022-24

Article History:

Electronic publication date: 15/02/2023
Collection year: 2023

© 2023 Rammouz et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.


* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco; E-mail: ismailrammouz@gmail.com