Mental health disparity between teenage boys and girls ‘not inevitable’ – study
Researchers compared studies tracking the health of teenagers in England and Japan.
Mental health disparities between teenage girls and boys are “not inevitable”, experts have said.
The comments come after a new study compared the mental health of teenagers in London and Tokyo.
From early adolescence, girls from both London and Tokyo have higher levels of depression than boys.
But the “disparity is larger”, increases at a faster rate and starts earlier among girls in London.
And experts said that the “trajectory for boys in London closely mirrors the trajectory for girls in Tokyo”.
Researchers said their work suggests that differences in emotional health between teenage boys and girls are “not an inevitable part of teenage development”.
They suggested that if problems are driven by “social and structural factors” then individual solutions – including mindfulness, talking therapies and mental health first aid – are “unlikely to be effective” at resolving differences in emotional health between teenage boys and girls.
The new study, led by experts at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, tracked depressive symptoms in 7,100 people from Tokyo and London.
Experts monitored symptoms at three different points throughout adolescence among children aged 11 to 16.
“We found strong evidence that gender inequalities in depressive symptoms are larger, and might emerge earlier, among young people in London than young people in Tokyo,” the authors wrote in the journal Lancet Child And Adolescent Health.
“Notably, the mean rate of increase in depressive symptoms per year was around four times steeper among girls in London than girls in Tokyo.”
Young researchers who contributed to the study suggested that teenagers in London might assume adult roles and responsibilities at a younger age compared with young people in Tokyo
“In the UK, young girls and those in low income and financially insecure families assume adult responsibilities (eg unpaid care) at younger ages compared with boys and those from more affluent backgrounds,” the authors said, adding that “it is possible that (gendered) differences in young people’s roles and responsibilities in the home and the community contribute to disproportionately high depressive symptoms among girls in London”.
They said that societal differences may also contribute – for instance violence and “interpersonal crime” is lower in Tokyo than it is in London.
Young people in London may be more likely to experience racism, they said.
“And the UK’s prolonged period of austerity — and related increases in child poverty, inequality, and chronic underfunding of public services supporting young people — is not mirrored in Japan,” the authors added.
The study concludes: “Differences in emotional health between teenage boys and girls are often considered an inevitable part of teenage development; our own and others’ work increasingly suggests this might not be case.
“If high and rising rates of emotional ill-health among girls and young women are largely driven by social and structural factors, then individual-focused interventions (eg, mindfulness, talking therapies, and mental health first aid), which currently dominate the UK’s response to the problem, are unlikely to be an effective solution.
“Our findings suggest gender inequalities in emotional health are context dependent and the steep increases in emotional distress faced by many girls in the UK are not an inevitable part of development.
“There is an urgent need to understand the contexts and conditions that enable young girls to thrive.”
First author Dr Gemma Knowles, from King’s College London, said “Our study suggests that, from around early adolescence onwards, girls have higher levels of depression than boys in both Tokyo and London but the disparity is larger, starts a bit earlier, and increases at a faster rate in London.
“The trajectory for boys in London closely mirrors the trajectory for girls in Tokyo.
“These findings suggest we need to rethink and challenge popular narratives around gender differences in mental health – for example, the idea that girls are naturally or inevitably more likely to struggle with their emotional health – and to understand the contexts and conditions that enable teenage girls and young people to thrive.”
