Sex commonalities and differences in the relationship between resilient personality and the intrinsic connectivity of the salience and default mode networks

Abstract

Increased resilience is associated with better health outcomes and reduced morbidity in response to injury and homeostatic perturbations. Proper functioning of the salience network (SN) and modulation of the default mode network (DMN) by SN may play a role in adaptively responding to stress. Here, we demonstrate that resilient personality in healthy subjects is associated with SN and DMN connectivity patterns and that these patterns are influenced by sex. While connectivity of SN with several brain regions including right anterior insula was significantly associated with resilient personality in both men and women, results suggest that increased functional integration of anterior DMN preferentially benefits women while increased functional integration of posterior DMN preferentially benefits men in terms of resilience. These findings may relate to previous demonstrations that men and women engage different information processing and behavioral strategies to achieve resilience and highlight the importance of considering sex in resilience research.

Keywords: Default mode network; NEO personality inventory; Resilience; Resting state networks; Salience network; Sex differences.