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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1522686
Gender-Specific Impact of Stress and Adiposity on Autonomic Stress Modulation in Teachers
Provisionally accepted- European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Spain
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Teaching is recognized as one of the most stressful professions, often leading to negative physical and mental health outcomes. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the relationship between stress and adiposity in teachers, considering gender differences. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 253 teachers from compulsory and higher education during the 2022-2023 academic year. Autonomous regulation was assessed using heart rate variability, adipose tissue mass was measured with bioelectrical impedance analysis, and stress was evaluated through validated psychological questionnaires. Results: Men with higher adiposity exhibited lower levels of Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences (RMSSD) (34.75 ± 14.49 vs. 47.25 ± 26.75, p = 0.015) and the number of pairs of intervals differing by more than 50 milliseconds (pNN50) (12.31 ± 10.50 vs. 21.28 ± 17.96, p = 0.016), with a low-frequency (LF) / high-frequency (HF) band ratio of (4.72 ± 3.62 vs. 4.84 ± 3.48), suggesting greater sympathetic activation. In contrast, women with higher adiposity showed higher values in LF, HF, and the LF/HF ratio (3.13 ± 2.60 vs. 2.42 ± 2.33, p = 0.015), indicating a predominance of parasympathetic activity. Additionally, the group with a higher percentage of body fat had higher scores on the Perceived Stress Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the State Anxiety Questionnaire, and exhibited less extroverted personalities. Conclusions: we found that higher adiposity in teachers is linked to increased stress and altered autonomic regulation. Men with higher adiposity exhibited greater sympathetic activation, while women reported higher stress with more variable autonomic responses. These findings suggest the need for gender-specific interventions to address both the psychological and physiological components of stress in educators. men showed greater sympathetic activation, showed higher effect of higher stress but reduced with a significant increase in the effect of influencing stress levels 1
Keywords: Gender Differences 1, Burnout 2, Heart Rate Variability 3, Educators 4, Autonomic Modulation 5, Adipose Tissue 6
Received: 04 Nov 2024; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Álvarez Gallardo, Calderón-García, Belinchón and Clemente-Suárez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pedro Belinchón, European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Spain
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