Table 1.

Sexual dimorphism in rodent behavioral response to stress.

Stress paradigm	Age	Duration of stress	Male behavioral phenotype	Female behavioral phenotype
Paternal stress	Sires were exposed to stress one month prior to breeding (Dietz et al., 2011)	10 Days of CSDS (Dietz et al., 2011)	•Social avoidance (Dietz et al., 2011) •Anxiety-like behavior (Dietz et al., 2011) •Increased locomotion in response to novelty (Dietz et al., 2011) •Decreased sucrose preference (Dietz et al., 2011) •Increased immobility in the Forced Swim Test (FST) (Dietz et al., 2011)	•Anxiety-like behavior (Dietz et al., 2011) •Increased immobility in the FST (Dietz et al., 2011)
Gestational stress	Dams were exposed to the stressor during early gestation (days 1–7) (Mueller and Bale, 2007, Mueller and Bale, 2008, Bronson and Bale, 2014)	7 Days of chronic variable stress (Mueller and Bale, 2007, Mueller and Bale, 2008, Bronson and Bale, 2014)	•Impaired memory acquisition, enhanced recall in the Barnes maze (Mueller and Bale, 2007) •Increased immobility in the Tail Suspension Test (TST) and FST (Mueller and Bale, 2008) •Decreased sucrose preference (Mueller and Bale, 2008) •Locomotor hyperactivity (Bronson and Bale, 2014)	•Enhanced memory acquisition in the Barnes maze (Mueller and Bale, 2007)
Early life stress	P2–P10 (Macri et al., 2009) P1–P13 (Macri et al., 2004) P1–P14 (Caldji et al., 2000)	Brief/mild: 9 days of low corticosterone administration to lactating mother (Macri et al., 2009), 13 (Macri et al., 2004) or 14 (Caldji et al., 2000) days of 15-min maternal separation Prolonged/severe: 9 days of high corticosterone administration to lactating mother (Macri et al., 2009), 13 days of 4 h maternal separation (Macri et al., 2004), 14 days of 3 h maternal separation (Caldji et al., 2000)	Brief/mild: •Enhanced attentional set-shifting performance (cognitive flexibility) (Macri et al., 2009) •Reduced latency to approach food and water in a novel environment (Macri et al., 2004, Caldji et al., 2000) •Decreased startle response (Caldji et al., 2000) •Reduced anxiety-like behavior in the open field (Caldji et al., 2000) Prolonged/severe: •Similar in behavior to control animals (Macri et al., 2004, Caldji et al., 2000)	•The effects of early life stress are poorly understood in females, although recent evidence suggests differential effects of early life stress on exploratory behavior, social behavior and anhedonia (Kundakovic et al., 2013)
Chronic restraint stress	80 Days old (Kitraki et al., 2004) 2–3 Months old (Luine, 2002)	21 Days of 6 h restraint (Luine, 2002, Conrad et al., 2003, Kitraki et al., 2004)	•Spatial and visual memory deficits (Y maze, Morris water maze, radial arm maze, object recognition, object location) (Luine, 2002, Conrad et al., 2003, Kitraki et al., 2004)	•Normal or enhanced spatial and visual memory (Luine, 2002, Conrad et al., 2003, Kitraki et al., 2004)
Chronic social defeat stress	7–8 Weeks old (Golden et al., 2011, Krishnan et al., 2007, Donahue et al., 2014)	10 Days of 10-min defeat bouts (Golden et al., 2011, Krishnan et al., 2007, Donahue et al., 2014)	•“Susceptible” animals display social avoidance, increased anxiety-like behavior and decreased sucrose preference (anhedonia) (Krishnan et al., 2007, Donahue et al., 2014) •“Resilient” animals display increased anxiety-like behavior (Krishnan et al., 2007)	•The CSDS model has not been adequately adapted for use in females due to a lack of conspecific aggressive behavior
Unpredictable stress	Subchronic & Chronic: 7–8 weeks old (LaPlant et al., 2009, Hodes, 2013)	Subchronic: 6 days of varied 1 h stressors (LaPlant et al., 2009, Hodes, 2013) Chronic: 21–28 days of varied 1 h stressors (Hodes, 2013)	Chronic: •Decreased sucrose preference (Hodes, 2013) •Decreased grooming behavior (Hodes, 2013) •Increased latency to approach food in a novel environment (Hodes, 2013) •Increased immobility in the FST (Hodes, 2013)	Subchronic & Chronic: •Decreased sucrose preference (Hodes, 2013) •Decreased grooming behavior (Hodes, 2013) •Increased latency to approach food in a novel environment (Hodes, 2013) •Increased immobility in the FST (LaPlant et al., 2009, Hodes, 2013)