**4. Discussion**

The aim of the present research was to study gender differences among university students regarding the perceived risk of the COVID-19 pandemic and in psychological, nutritional, oral health, and physical activity habits. The initial hypothesis was partially confirmed, since female students showed higher scores on the level of perceived risk of the COVID-19 pandemic than male students. However, significant differences between genders were found in some psychological and nutritional variables but not in oral health and physical activity variables.

In the present study, females presented higher perceived risks level of the COVID-19 pandemic than males. Authors have suggested that there a is a gender difference in the psychological experience, somatization, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emotions it provokes, suggesting that women are more emotionally vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 context than men [24]. This may be related to the greater levels of state-trait anxiety reached in this study, where females presented higher levels than males in lin with previous literature [25]. This may also explain the greater emotional vulnerability of females [26]. Indeed, there are also gender differences in stress coping among university students [27], where females have shown greater stress and lower stress coping abilities than male [28], thus supporting our results.

The psychometric profile and personality trait differences between genders may explain the stronger influence of perceived risk and anxiety in females. Within these personality traits, our data suggest that male students have higher levels of extraversion than females, while females present higher values in conscientiousness and neuroticism, which is in lineprevious research conducted in female professors [29]. The present data suggest that females have greater openness to experience, contrary to the results of Castañeiras et al. (2006), where males showed higher levels of openness to experience than females [30]. However, these differences could be attributed to the difference in the sociocultural context (Latin America-Europe), as well as the context of the sample, since our sample was students.

Regarding the nutritional profile, no gender differences were found among the consumption of fruit, legume, or vegetables, which is contrary to previous studies. Authors have suggested that male's poorer nutrition knowledge explains a significant part of their lower intake of fruit and vegetables [31], with a tendency for fat and protein rich foods breweries as beer, spirits, and sweet carbonated drinks [32], in line with our data. Yet, it has been reported that students have poor nutrition habits [33], reflecting a significant gender difference in weight status with the percentage of overweight/obese males being more than double that of females [34]. However, no gender differences were seen in the present study as in previous research in the COVID-19 pandemic [35].

According to oral health profile, females showed significantly higher values for daily tooth brushing, dry mouth, and gastritis than males. This high frequency in daily tooth brushing is consequent with previous research and may be related to the higher values of neuroticism and conscientiousness shown by females [36]. However, no significant relationships have been found between toothbrushing and psychological factors [37]. In the same way, dry mouth or lack of saliva has also been related to increased stress perception and the somatization of anxiety and depression, conforming to a psych emotional profile and stress perception of the analyzed female sample. Thus, a relationship was found between stress and oral health, where females tended to suffer more than males despite the high frequency of brushing, which coincides with the literature found in other groups such as teachers [38].

Regarding the physical activity profile, no gender differences were found, which is in line with previous literature among university students [39]. Yet, values or physical exercise were still down considering the minimum requirements of daily/weekly physical exercise, which is in line with data found in gender and university students in previous research [40,41]. Indeed, authors have suggested that students who do not engage in physical exercise or sport present greater stress reactions [42]. Yet, authors have suggested that younger students present better performance in physical exercise, academics, and work, demonstrating a good lifestyle compared to older students [43].

The multifactorial analysis of factors related to the perception of risk level of COVID-19 may be a useful tool to measure the associated stress in university students to explain and prevent the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the use of questionnaires allows significant information to be collected in a short period of time. Knowledge of these related factors could be used by various educational institutions to implement multidisciplinary interventions to reduce this perception and, thus, students' stress in the face of the virus. The present research also presents some limitations, with the main limitation being the lack of biological measurement due to COVID-19 and the impossibility of measuring stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, alpha amylase ... ). Other limitations were that anthropometrical data were self-declared, which may lead to a serious risk of bias. However, since this was an online questionnaire, no other further methods of evaluations were possible. Future studies may address this issue. As a future research line, we propose analyzing the influence of cultural differences in the levels of perceived danger from the COVID-19 virus. In addition, this study could be extended to other degrees, as well as to other educational levels such as primary and secondary school.

#### **5. Conclusions**

We can conclude that female university students presented higher levels of perceived danger from the COVID-19 virus than male university students. Males showed higher levels of extraversion than females, but females showed higher levels of conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Females showed higher levels of perceived anxiety than males. Regarding the nutritional profile, males showed a higher frequency of consumption of soft drinks, meat, pasta, or rice. Regarding oral health, females showed a higher number of times they brushed their teeth, as well as a higher frequency of dry mouth or lack of saliva. In the physical activity profile, no significant results were found in either gender.

The multifactorial analysis of factors related to the perception of the level of danger to COVID-19 may be a useful tool to measure the associated stress in university students to explain and prevent the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the use of questionnaires allows significant information to be collected in a short period of time. Awareness of these related factors could be used by various educational institutions to implement multidisciplinary interventions to reduce this perception and, thus, students' stress in response to the virus.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, V.J.C.-S. and J.F.T.-A.; methodology, J.F.-L.; software, J.F.-L. and S.R.-B.; validation, S.R.-B., J.F.T.-A., J.F.-L., V.J.C.-S.; formal analysis, V.J.C.-S. and S.R.-B.; investigation, V.J.C.-S., J.F.-L. and S.R.-B.; writing—S.R.-B., J.F.T.-A., J.F.-L., V.J.C.-S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the European University Ethics Committee (CIPI/18/074).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** All data are presented in the manuscript.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
